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Germany of the Germans 



By 

Robert M. Berry 



NEW YORK 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

153-157 Fifth Avenue 
1911 



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PREFACE 

The object of this book is not to deal with the history of the 
German Empire, but to draw for the reader a simple pen- 
picture of the German nation as it is to-day — the Germany 
of the Germans. It is not the intention of the author to 
criticise ruler, people, constitution or institutions, but to give 
the result of many years' personal observation. He has had 
the advantage of working with German workmen, studying 
with the students, participating in the national sports, joining 
in the people's amusements, watching their politics, marching 
with their soldiers, coming in close contact with their officials, 
and paying their taxes — in fact, he has lived in north, south, 
east and west, in town and in country, the life of the people 
as far as a foreigner is able to do so. 

Comparisons with the peoples and institutions of other 
nations have not been introduced into the^book. The facts 
are given : the reader is left to draw his own conclusions. 

Statistics have been avoided wherever possible, but in 
some instances it has been absolutely necessary to give figures 
in order to explain the subject under discussion. In these 
cases the most reliable authorities have been consulted either 
through books or personally. 

It has been the endeavour of the author to avoid the use 
of foreign expressions throughout the book, and, where an 
exact rendering of a title or the name of an institution would 
be confusing to English readers, he has given the nearest 
English equivalent. 

The book undoubtedly contains imperfections, which may 
give rise to criticism ; but any errors that have been made 
have been committed in good faith. 



CONTENTS 



CHAP. 

I. INTRODUCTION 

II. WILLIAM II AS EMPEROR 

III. THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION 

iv. Prussia's preponderance 

V. IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT 

VI. OFFICIALDOM 

VII. THE ARMY IS THE NATION 

VIII. THE NAVY . 

IX. THE " AGE OF YOUTH " 

X. INTELLECTUAL HOTHOUSES 

XI. THE BATTLEFIELD Of CREEDS 

XII. THE LETTER OF THE LAW 

XIII. ABOUT THE POOR 

XIV. A GENERATION AHEAD IN INSURANCE 
XV. THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED 

XVI. THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENT 

XVII. MODEL FORESTERS 

XVIII. THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT 

XIX. THE SPORTING SPIRIT . 

XX. WOMAN'S POSITION AND PROSPECTS 

XXI. LITERARY SEARCHINGS 

XXII. THE PRESS AND ITS INFLUENCE 

XXIII. " INTENSE " MUSIC 

XXIV. DRAMATIC FARE . 
XXV. ART AND ARCHITECTURE 

XXVI. PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE . 

XXVII. MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES . 

XXVIII. LIFE AND SOME CUSTOMS 

vii 



1 
11 

20 

30 

38 

47 

54 

65 

73 

85 

94 

104 

115 

125 

136 

147 

162 

167 

174 

184 

193 

202 

208 

217 

227 

240 

248 

261 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



THE KAISER .... 

THE BATTLESHIP " HANOVER " . 

ROYAL PALACE, POTSDAM 

COUNT ZEPPELIN 

THE CROWN PRINCE . 

THE REICHSTAG 

HERR VON BETHMANN-HOLLWEG 

ADMIRAL VON TIRPITZ 

THE BATTLESHIP " NASSAU " 

A FUTURE KAISER 

PULPIT, TRIER CATHEDRAL 

CHAPEL OF ST. URSULA, COLOGNE 

EMPEROR STREET, FREIBURG 

THE DOCKS, HAMBURG 

BARONESS VON BOHLEN (NEE KRUPP) 

A GERMAN TYPE 

THE KAISERIN AND HER DAUGHTER 

HERMANN SUDERMANN 

THE BUCHHAtSTDLERHAUS, LEIPZIG 

EMMA DESTINN 

GERARD HAUPTMANN 

LUDWIG VON KNAUS 

PORTA NIGRA, TRIER 

THE CATHEDRAL, MAYENCE 

THE CATHEDRAL, FREIBURG 

ERNST HEINRICH HAECKEL. 

TOWN HALL, FREIBURG 

GUILD HOUSE, RATISBON . 

VIEW OF BERLIN 

ST. SEBALDUS* SHRINE, NUREMBERG 

MARKET PLACE, FREIBURG . 

viii 



Frontispiece 

facing 
page 

8 

12 

16 

18 

40 

50 

66 

70 

76 

94 

100 

134 

150 

154 

168 

184 

196 

200 

214 

222 

232 

234 

236 

238 

242 

248 

250 

256 

258 

262 



Germany of the Germans 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION 



" These people are wonderfully methodical ! " is a phrase 
often uttered by the foreigner visiting Germany for the first 

time. Without knowing it, he has hit on the 
^? n ^ er ^ ul principal reason of Germany's prosperity. 

Signs of method and discipline are visible 
on every hand. Well-ordered progress is apparent every- 
where — not that frenzied, demonstrative progress observable 
in newer countries, but an organized forward movement in 
which every detail seems to have been well considered and 
nothing left to chance. 

When a deeper knowledge has been obtained of the country 
and the people — the Germany of the Germans — the foreigner 
is no longer surprised at the nation's unceasing march towards 
the front rank of civilised countries. Perseverance, education, 
knowledge of their strength, ambition, have all united to urge 
the German people forward. 

It cannot be denied that in the past forty years their 
concentrated efforts have carried them onward to such a 

position in trade, in power, and in the develop- 

Germany ment of systematized care for their own welfare 

Dreaming. tnat other nations, who formerly looked on 

Germany as only a land of dreamers, have 
been compelled to come to the conclusion that, instead of 
dreaming, she was wide awake, thinking quietly and method- 
ically. Now that she has put the result of her thought into 
effect, the other nations have to content themselves with 
following, in many directions, the way she has thought out, 
with the disadvantage of having to give her a start in the race. 

l 
i— (2391) 



2 Germany of the Germans 

In whatever part of the Empire one finds oneself, the fact 
becomes immediately apparent that the most modern methods 
are utilized in both public and private enter- 
al 11 * 1 ,, .? t0 prise. No detail is too small to claim atten- 
tion, and to this study of detail much of the 
extraordinary progress which has been attained is to be 
attributed. 

The marvellous organisation and method, which count for 
so much to the nation, are an outcome of the formation of the 
Empire four decades ago. The many small States into which 
Germany is divided suffered, before their union into a federal 
bond, from all kinds of petty jealousies, as well as from the 
varied systems in vogue. Development was in this way 
greatly retarded. 

Since the creation of the Empire, with a central government 

to watch over its greater world-interests, and with the strong 

directing hand of the administrative system 

Virility of the borrowed from Prussia — the paramount State 

of the federation — extended to all parts of the 

country, the overflowing virility of the people, instead of being 

dribbled away in constant internal bickerings, has been 

directed into its proper channel, and the power hitherto 

wasted has been utilized to develop the vast natural resources 

of the country. 

Certainly, not all the administrative system taken from 
Prussia calls for admiration. The interference of the authori- 
ties in petty details of private life, which in other countries 
are left to the good sense of the people, is felt by the Germans 
themselves, with all their inborn instinct of submission to the 
powers that be, to go sometimes to extreme lengths. 

The ubiquity of the police is very striking and impresses 

itself on the foreigner as one of the most 

Ub'auitv objectionable features of German life. The 

fact that one can only obtain a cab at a 

railway station through a policeman, the personal reporting 

of arrivals to the police, and the registration of the 



Introduction 3 

engagement or dismissal of a servant girl at the police station, 
and other matters of a like nature might pass without remark ; 
but when a policeman in full uniform and armed with a sabre 
enters your private apartment to inquire about your religious 
belief, then police interference becomes objectionable. 

The fact that the policeman's helmet and sabre are the most 
conspicuous objects on the platform of a political meeting, 
which he can disperse at a moment's notice should he imagine 
a speaker is expressing his arguments in an objectionable way 
to the Government, of course does not affect the foreigner to 
any great extent. 

The policeman's word is law everywhere. Right or wrong, 
the public must obey him. Complaint as to the injustice 
of his action is virtually useless. The Government undertakes 
entire responsibility for all his acts, legal or illegal, while he 
is on duty. 

Much the same may be said in regard to most Government 

and municipal officials. They in many cases, among the 

lower ranks, act as though they were the 

Officials the ru i ers by some kind of divine right, and woe 
be to a member of the public who expresses 
his disapproval ! 

It must be said that the higher ranks of officials are, in 
the majority of instances, extremely obliging. They are 
men of the highest education who have behind them the long 
traditions of the Prussian administration, which has always 
been noted for its uprightness and faithfulness to duty. 

As to the military cult — that stands by itself. The soldier's 
uniform is honoured by Germans more than by the people 
of any other nation. The officer occupies a 
c M |! ltary privileged position, which is inviolable by the 
civil authorities. He takes precedence every- 
where. How highly the military stand in the estimation of 
the ruler may be gathered from the fact that, when the 
Imperial Chancellor happens to be chosen from among the 
civilians, he is at once given a rank in the Army, so that he 



4 Germany of the Germans 

may wear the uniform, the usual diplomatic uniform not being 
regarded as bearing such a high value. This was done in the 
case of Bismarck, Caprivi and Biilow, and now Bethmann- 
Hollweg has received the appointment he has been made 
a major as a first step. All of these four Chancellors when 
they performed their service in the Army did so as one-year 
volunteers. 

The German from his earliest years is educated in patriotism. 
His school songs are martial ; he is given holidays on the 

anniversaries of great victories ; he is taught 
Patriotism hist or v mostly by references to wars in which 

the nation has participated ; when he walks 
abroad he finds everywhere monuments of generals and 
marshals ; his picture galleries are full of battle pictures ; 
he is taught to doff his hat to the flag whenever he passes it ; 
the soldier is held up to him as the pattern which he should 
follow. 

A remarkable phenomenon in a nation where education 
and ability are so widespread is the fact that the development 
of the political instinct of the people has been so slow. They 
make use, it is true, of their right to vote for members of 
the Imperial Parliament, for which universal manhood 
suffrage obtains ; but there their interest in political matters 
ends, and they are content to accept with little comment 
the legislation made for them by Ministers not responsible 
to the nation, and not chosen from its elected representa- 
tives. Hitherto this apathy has not apparently injured the 
people's interests, for the new laws enacted have in most 
cases introduced reforms which have benefited the whole 
nation. 
There is in some quarters a very strong argument urged 

against this system of paternal government, 
Paternal na mely, that it destroys individuality and 

takes away the personal will of the people. 
They become so used to obeying orders that they cannot think 
for themselves in politics. Spontaneity is not requisite for 



Introduction 5 

them. The Government sees to all things : the people only 
need to do what they are told. Perhaps, it is argued, equally 
good and even better results in the way of popular thrift and 
laws could be attained if the people were taught to think for 
themselves. 

One of the most striking features of German life is that the 
people have so little understanding of the way in which they 
are governed. In other things the German can recite long 
lists of data without the slightest hesitation, but in politics 
he replies with a blank look when questioned. It has never 
impressed ' him as necessary that he should comprehend 
politics. He is governed — as a rule well : that is sufficient 
for him. 

The national character cannot easily be summed up in a few 

words, for in north, south, east and west exist many different 

traits. It may, however, be said of the people 

Character of aU the federated States that the y are 
industrious, honest and earnest ; while on the 

other side of the slate they are generally greatly inclined 

to bully anyone they consider inferior and abase themselves 

before anyone a step higher in the social scale. This latter 

failing seems, unfortunately, to extend with the spread of 

Prussian influence over the other States. 

The struggle for prosperity, as has been seen, takes a larger 

place in German thought than party politics. The men 

engaged in trade and commerce are most 

S pros S erit f ° r enn g ntened and ful1 of worldly knowledge. 
This they apply to business, which they 
conduct with intense energy, common-sense, and practicality. 

More especially among the working classes, where hard 
work and little play are the rule, the necessity for tenacity 
and striving towards improvement is fully recognised. Imbued 
with the spirit of discipline during their service in the Army, 
they carry it with them to their work and their trades unions. 
Their leaders are wide awake to the terrific struggle going on 
between the nations in the search for trade. They never 



6 Germany of the Germans 

cease to drive home to the workmen the benefits of temperance 
in making them better able to attain efficiency in their work. 
They also encourage them to attend in their spare time the 
technical trade classes which are such a feature of German 
education. 

This subject of education is dealt with in Germany in a way 

that is wonderfully efficient. It leaves doubts in many 

people's minds, however, as to whether the 

Education ^est s y stem nas been adopted, for, although 

it is aimed at providing the most thorough 

training of the pupil for the walk in life that has been chosen, 

it appears to impose a limit on opportunity. 

Specialisation and caste feeling are carried to such an 
extreme limit in all things that it is almost impossible for any 
German to strike out and take up any position except that for 
which he was originally destined. The workman's son 
becomes a workman, the professional man's son follows in his 
father's footsteps, the Government official's son almost inevi- 
tably enters a Government office, the officer's son expects 
nothing more than to become an officer, while the scions of 
nobility would not expect to do anything but serve a time 
as officer in the Guards and then take up the management of 
their estates or go into the diplomatic service. 

Professor Ludwig Bernhard, a leading German economist, 

recently called attention in the course of an address to the 

gulf that existed between the working classes 

Th ClaIs es king in the German Empire and the rest of the 
nation. He declared that their manner of 
thought was so different that they gave the impression of 
belonging to another race ; yet they formed the greater 
proportion of the nation and provided the majority of the 
Army. The intellectual progress of the Empire certainly had 
extended to the working class, although its results had led it 
in a different direction, and the workmen now had their own 
ideals, history and traditions, which would in the future 
without doubt play an important part. 



Introduction 7 

While the bulk, if not all, of the middle class devote them- 
selves to trade and commerce in the practical way that is 
instilled into them in the technical schools, 
Th c U ? per leaving intellectual pursuits for their leisure 
time, which is very scanty, the great land- 
owners and the feudal nobility, with their ultra-conservative 
traditions, reside as a rule on their country estates. These 
are sometimes of vast extent and afford them wide oppor- 
tunities for the display of the talent for management which 
seems inherent in the German. 

Germany has undoubtedly become a power which must 

be reckoned with in the future progress of the world. In 

shipping, industry and commerce, she has, 

A Power to thanks to her hard-working, well-disciplined, 
Reckon With. ,, , , , ,« ... , .. / 

well-educated, thrifty population ol over 

63,000,000, already taken a place near the front. 

The people of this youthful Empire, despite their immense 
increase of wealth, have not relaxed one iota of their marvel- 
lous energy. Indeed, it looks as though their inherent strength 
and vitality are only now being stirred to still further effort. 

The sudden successes which led to the foundation of the 
Empire were not without their drawbacks, for they found the 
people without any of the tact and diplomacy so necessary 
when in contact with other races and other Powers. The 
acquisition of these indispensable attributes is, however, only 
a matter of time. 

No false impression prevails in the land that whatever 

the nation undertakes it will be able to accomplish. The 

Germans, however, after the most careful 

Thou^Out P re P aration and forethought, enter upon new 
ventures with the utmost confidence, knowing 
that they stand at least an equal chance with the people of 
any other nation. 

Sometimes they choose a wrong way to attain their object, 
but when that way is once chosen they go forward without 
hesitation and often pull through owing to their discipline. 



8 Germany of the Germans 

They bear with equanimity the awful burden of a gigantic 

Army and a rapidly growing Fleet, as they feel both are 

necessary to maintain the position of the 

Burden of jr m pi re in the world, and thus to bring them 

more opportunities for trade. 

With their growth of power, they have lost much of their 

former simplicity, and their desire for more comfort and 

luxury has increased, with the result that modern German 

houses may now be regarded as among the most convenient 

in the world. The cities also are remarkably well organised, 

rationally laid out, and wonderfully clean. 

Their way of dealing with social problems has aroused 
world-wide admiration. Here again the ingrained discipline 
of the people has had its effect. Practically 
Probl every working person accepts with good grace 

the enforcement of the far-reaching system 
of thrift which was introduced by Bismarck in an effort to 
stay the tide of Socialism. The compulsory method of making 
provision for hard times has not had its feared effect of dis- 
couraging private thrift. On the contrary, the people seem 
to have gathered encouragement from it to make further 
efforts of their own in the same direction, as the immense 
figures of the small deposit accounts in the savings banks 
show. 

The guardianship of the State in this respect has effected 
much in delivering the working classes of the land from the 
horrible nightmare of an old age of hopeless privation and 
dependence on others. 

The remarkable extension of scientific learning during the 

past thirty or forty years appears to have had a deleterious 

effect on the spiritual condition of the nation, 

Learning which exhibits itself in a notable increase of 

discontent and pessimism in regard to 

religion. Everything connected with the Church is the subject 

of discussion. Nothing is perfect ! All needs changing and 

reform. These criticisms are in many cases justified, for the 




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1 



Introduction 9 

old fervent religious spirit seems to have died out of the 
Church itself, and it offers nothing that appeals to a people 
that has always had a longing for religion. The days of 
Luther seem very far away ! 

From all classes, whether high or low, arises occasionally 
a murmur as to the burden of taxation, more especially when 
a fresh source is tapped which apparently affects one class 
more than another. When the heavy sums raised by the 
Empire and the various States are regarded, it must be 
confessed that there is cause for muttering. 

The Statistical Department has drawn up a list of the 

budgets of the various Federal States and of the Empire for 

the year 1908, according to which the States 

Bud e t expended public money to the extent of 

£270,500,000, and the Empire £147,650,000, 

altogether £418,150,000, part of which sum was raised from 

the State and Imperial undertakings, and the remainder from 

taxation, direct and indirect. 

The States enter to a considerable extent into industrial 
enterprises, much to the benefit of the people. The chief 
sources of revenue, apart from taxation, are the forests and 
other lands, which brought in a net income of £7,650,000 in 
1908 ; the mines, which returned a net total of £485,000 ; 
the railways, which made a profit for the States combined of 
£29,700,000 ; the posts and telegraphs, which altogether 
brought in £810,000 ; and other smaller undertakings, which 
earned a profit of £1,845,000. The only item on which the 
States lost money was the State-owned river and lake 
steamships, which showed a loss of £10,000. 

The Empire also has some similar sources of revenue. For 
instance, the Imperial railways in Alsace-Lorraine were worked 
at a profit of £770,000, the Imperial posts and telegraphs 
showed a balance of £1,865,000, and the Imperial printing 
office one of £190,000. 

The net income to States and Empire together from these 
undertakings in 1908 was £43,305,000. 



10 Germany of the Germans 

With all the incessant expenditure of energy in the race of 
industrial progress, Germans leave themselves little time for 
creative work in other directions. 

Literature, for instance, has suffered greatly in recent years. 

Not that there is a lack of books ! The quantity is to hand 

in more than sufficiency ; but the good, sound 

^Standstill* & literary effort of former times has disappeared. 

More reading than ever is done, but -German 

lovers of letters rely on the old standard authors, while the 

multitude, with the meagre leisure time at its disposal, 

contents itself for the time being with ephemeral literature, 

which it hastily glances through and throws away — its proper 

fate. 

Both music and art appear to be passing through a period 

of transition. Music, of course, is born in the blood of the 

German, and no one can ever quench his 

Music and ^ove for it. German musicians of the present 

Art. • r i 

day, however, are striving for some goal 

which they themselves can but dimly see, if they see it at 

all, with the result that wild, sensational compositions are 

given to a public which is seeking for other and better 

things. 

As to art, in both sculpture and painting an effort is being 

made to evolve a German style, hitherto without great 

success, but with ever-increasing promise. Excellent art 

schools exist in plenty, and there seems little doubt that some 

day modern German art will take its place on the same plane 

as that of other nations whose achievements have rendered 

them as famous in that regard as Germany is for her education, 

her discipline, her industry, and her administration. 



CHAPTER II 

WILLIAM II AS EMPEROR 

William II, chosen Emperor of the most powerful military 

nation of the world, may be said almost to have achieved his 

purpose of becoming the arbiter of Europe's 

Arbiter of destinies. Essentially a man of peace, the 
Europe. _ T . 

Kaiser is yet a great war-lord. It is more m 

that capacity than as their ruler that the Emperor is recognised 

by the German people. Yet during his reign of more than 

twenty years the sword of Germany has not once been drawn, 

although it has on occasions rattled ominously in its sheath. 

The fact is, the Kaiser loves to feel his power, which enables 
him to maintain the prestige of the House of Hohenzollern 
and with it that of the German Empire. He indulges in what 
might almost be termed worship for his ancestor, the Grand 
Elector Frederick Wilhelm of Brandenburg, who first changed 
Prussia from a vassal province into an independent 
principality. 

The Emperor certainly inherited the traditional devotion 

to duty of the Hohenzollerns. He is a lover of hard work. 

There is no eight-hour day for him, and if he 

De Duty n t0 com P letes his formidable list of daily tasks 
in double that time it is only because of his 
extraordinary energy and system. His example in this 
respect seems also to affect those around him, and the position 
of his Court officials is never a sinecure. When any matter 
of importance is brought to his notice, he insists that it shall 
be settled the same day, if at all possible, for he does not like 
anything to be held over. The signature of all State papers 
is carried out immediately they are presented to his Majesty, 
who never fails to order that they shall be returned to the 
Ministry whence they emanated on the same day. Very often 
on the following morning he inquires of his secretaries or 

11 



12 Germany of the Germans 

aides-de-camp whether the documents have been returned, 
and if he learns of any delay the official at fault has a bad 
quarter of an hour. 

Even when he is travelling, which is often the case, the 
Kaiser transacts all his State business as the Imperial train 
is dashing along, and his post-bag when he is away from 
Berlin is always a heavy one. 

The expense attached to an Imperial railway journey is 

very great. The Kaiser never travels by ordinary train, but 

utilizes the luxurious railway carriages painted 

When he j n ^ ue an( ^ w ^ e specially constructed for 

his use. The train is composed of eleven of 
these carriages, fitted in palatial manner with all thinkable 
conveniences, and is so heavy that two locomotives are 
required to draw it. The average cost of running the train 
is about £10 per mile, and this has to be paid from his Majesty's 
privy purse. A telegraph operator always accompanies the 
train, carrying portable telegraphic and telephonic apparatus, 
so that in case of breakdown or accident the wires on the side 
of the track can be tapped and immediate communication 
obtained with some central point. 

The calls on his Majesty's privy purse are very many, but 
he has ample resources to meet them. As King of Prussia 

he enjoys a civil list of £850,000 a year. He 
Resources * s ' b^des, the biggest landowner in Prussia, 

with an immense private income. His grand- 
father, the Emperor William I, who led a very quiet and 
economical life, also left him a fortune of £2,500,000. 

The Emperor possesses a large number of castles and 
palaces in various parts of the country, which call for the 
expenditure of an enormous amount of money for their 
upkeep, and he has recently undertaken the costly task of 
restoring some of them which had almost fallen into ruins. 
He also practically bears the entire expense of the Imperial 
Opera in Berlin, which must cost him many thousands 
yearly. 




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William II as Emperor 13 

He once said : " When I once undertake anything, I always 

carry it out," and it is certain that in whatever he undertakes 

the Emperor seems to put his whole heart. 

tu i Whether he is leading a cavalry charge, 

Thoroughness. . ° * ° ' 

commanding his cruiser yacht, the Hohen- 

zollern, sailing in a yacht race, motoring, playing tennis, 

walking, shooting or riding — his mind is concentrated on 

what he is doing. 

He is devoted to exercise, and when in Berlin spends 
considerable time on horseback, although it is said that he 
does not care much for riding. The sea appears to have 
many attractions for him, and he delights to be on board of 
the Meteor during a hard-sailed race, or walking the quarter- 
deck of a battleship during the manoeuvres, when he follows 
every evolution of each vessel of the fleet with the utmost 
minuteness. 

Deer-stalking is one of his favourite sports, and he secures 
many a good bag of game when he is staying at his shooting 
preserves at Rominten and Liineburg. 

Wild-boar hunting is another form of sport which his 
Majesty thoroughly enjoys. He throws off all formality 
during the sport and joins in conversation with the foresters and 
gamekeepers in the most good-natured way while all sit round 
the ambulatory lunch waggon to partake of a simple meal. 

Lawn-tennis is a form of exercise in which he was at one 
time an adept, but of late years he has practised the game 
only occasionally while at Potsdam. 

Even in his private life, when he is not occupied with State 

business, the Kaiser's energy displays itself at all times. 

He is a rapid eater, prefers the most simple 

P Life t6 dishes, and generally has an excellent 

appetite ; but he drinks most moderately 

and now only rarely smokes. His first meal, which is a 

hearty one, served very early, is eaten with all the 

members of the family who are in residence in the palace. 

Then, after pressing State business is settled, he often 



14 Germany of the Germans 

walks or rides, sometimes with the Empress. Luncheon is 
always very formal and many guests are generally present. 
The rest of the day is usually given up to public engagements, 
reception of guests, conferences with his councillors, etc., 
until dinner, a simple meal, after which the Kaiser reads with 
his family and discusses the events of the day until about 
11 o'clock. Then another hour's hard work at State business 
and his Majesty retires to bed. 

Like all the members of the Hohenzollern family, the 
Emperor has learned a trade, that of bookbinding, and he 
applied himself to it with such energy that he became really 
expert. He has often put his knowledge to practical use in 
the Imperial private library, which contains many a volume 
bound by the Imperial hands. It was he, too, who designed 
the bookmark in daily use in the palace. 

It is almost impossible not to admire the Emperor, whose 

strong personality is so attractive. Some of the vitality 

with which he has filled his reign seems to 

Strong k aye S p rea( j to all classes of his subjects, who 

have thus been spurred on to make efforts 

which they would not have thought of attempting had they 

not imbibed some of the overflowing optimism of their 

Emperor. He has, in fact, revivified decadent kingship. 

Although not physically very strong, he toils without cessation 

for his House and the Empire in a way that neither he nor any 

other man could do unless with a great incentive, and that 

incentive is the belief that he is divinely selected to brace up 

and lead the German nation to a great destiny. 

The Kaiser possesses most of the virtues of the German 

people — he is warm-hearted, impulsive, earnest, intelligent 

and idealistic. He has also some of its 

Virtues and d emer its, for he is rather vain and inclined to 
Dements. ' . 

complete self-satisfaction, but these are 

somewhat tempered by his lively sense of curiosity and 

recognition of the fact that others also have merits. He is 

above everything else filled with the belief of the divine 



William II as Emperor 15 

mission of the House of Hohenzollern, and determined to 
maintain and if possible increase its prestige, and this appears 
to overburden his character. It is said he will not brook, or 
rather does not like, the expression of initiative or independent 
thought among his Ministers or courtiers ; but he likes to hear 
the views of distinguished foreigners on subjects in which he 
is interested. In his conversations with them he is charming 
and wonderfully versatile. Most persons who come into 
personal contact with him leave under a kind of fascination. 
He seems to know at once how to get the best out of his 
guests. With an Englishman he is more than English, with 
a Frenchman more than French, and with an American more 
than American. Some say that this is the result of perfect 
acting, but there is every reason to believe that in every case 
the Kaiser is sincere. 

Whatever errors of judgment he may have committed 

during his reign, there is no doubt the Kaiser has always acted 

in good faith for what he believed at the 

in (Tood Faith moment to be the welfare of the Empire. 
He has been subjected to very severe criticism, 
not only in other countries, but by his own people. This was 
more especially the case at the time of the notorious interview 
in 1908, when a veritable storm burst over his Majesty's head 
from people and press of every party and class. 

The Emperor feels that his kingly duty calls upon him to 
take up such a position in public life as to make him the arbiter 
to whom the people will look in all public questions. 

His readiness to make a speech on any and every subject 
which comes under his notice has, however, on many occasions 
caused local storms in the circles affected by his words, for 
he has that dogmatic trait of asserting his views and admitting 
no contrary opinion which is characteristic of the German. 
His range of thought is so wide, and he is credited with being 
so liberal, that one must almost come to the conclusion that 
this dogmatism has been given birth to by the flattery of his 
courtiers, most of whom belong to that old feudal class whose 



16 Germany of the Germans 

first and only belief is that everything their monarch says 
or does is right, and are constantly telling him so. It is said 
that he rarely learns the exact truth about public opinion 
of his doings and sayings, for his time is too much occupied 
for him to read newspapers, and the information has to filter 
through the hands of a number of courtiers before it reaches 
his Majesty. 

Notwithstanding his more recent leaning towards the sea, 
the Kaiser has not lost his love for soldiering. His early 
career as an infantry and then as a cavalry 
S Id" 6 n* officer was, as with all princes, one of rapid 
promotion. It was when he became colonel 
of the Hussars of the Guard in 1885 that his personality 
began to make itself felt. He was a real martinet, and if 
a subaltern officer did not attain that pitch of perfection 
in his duties which was demanded by the young 
princely colonel, he found himself suddenly transferred to 
an obscure line regiment with small chance of promotion. 
Prince William did not allow even the minutest details to 
escape his notice : even the men's clothing and their barrack 
comforts were carefully inquired into. When he was 
promoted brigadier every regimental report was examined 
and commented on by him and the archives of the troops 
then under his command still contain lengthy criticisms in 
his handwriting. He was major-general at the age of 
twenty-nine, when he was called to the Imperial throne. 

Even as Emperor he continued his military studies whenever 
he found an opportunity, and he always makes it a point to 
be present at the great annual army manoeuvres, where he 
follows the movements of the opposing forces with the closest 
attention. At the end of a hard day's fighting he will often, 
surrounded by the whole corps of officers who have taken 
part, speak for an hour or so without notes, criticising or 
praising the execution of the movements. 

In the Navy, which is his own creation, he also shows 
immense interest. When on board the flagship at the 




COUNT ZEPPELIN 



William II as Emperor 17 

manoeuvres, he inquires closely into the welfare of the crew 

and every day he has a plateful of the sailors' rations 

brought to him direct from the cook's galley. 

Interest in the Q n man y occasions he does not content him- 
v* a vy . J 

self with looking at it and giving his approval, 

but consumes the entire contents, apparently with enjoyment, 

even when the food consists only of red herrings and unpeeled 

potatoes. 

The varied distribution of the Emperor's energies, which 
is sometimes decried, is due to his overwhelming desire to push 
things forward. 

The Emperor's versatility is so extended that scarcely any 

subject escapes his attention. He will jump from an earnest 

discussion on theology to the latest theory 

V K tTt °^ ^ e con( l uest °f tne a i r - On the subject 
of airships he is enthusiastic. When Count 
Zeppelin was reported to be on the way to Berlin in 
his monster air-cruiser for the first time, the Emperor 
set off in his motor-car from Potsdam and waited in the 
midst of hundreds of thousands of excited inhabitants of 
Berlin for several hours on the military parade-ground 
looking out for the Count's arrival. It was the Kaiser 
who, after hearing a lecture on the progress made in 
dirigible airships in France, gave orders for the army balloon 
corps to construct the steerable balloon which has 
proved such a great success. The society for the study of 
aerial navigation, under the chairmanship of Major von 
Parseval, was also founded on the Kaiser's recommendation, 
with the result that it now constructs dirigibles which with 
the greatest ease undertake trips of twelve and fifteen hours. 

Art is one of the subjects on which the Kaiser regards 
himself as an authority, and to which he gives 

Auth ^ 1 t ty on his patronage. He undoubtedly possesses a 

remarkably extensive artistic understanding, 

acquired from his mother, the Empress Frederick. The 

knowledge he imbibed from her was based on such sound 

2— (2391) 



18 Germany of the Germans 

and common-sense principles that he has never been able to 
overcome his oft-expressed dislike for modern Impressionists. 
His love for the old masters is deep-seated, and he never 
misses an occasion of displaying it. One of his great prefer- 
ences is for old English pictures, as was shown when he 
himself opened the exhibition in Berlin of masterpieces by 
Gainsborough, Reynolds, Lawrence, and other British 
painters. 

The list of his Majesty's activities is almost inexhaustible — 
from preaching an impromptu sermon to making suggestions 
for a statue, from launching a battleship to superintending 
an opera rehearsal, everything is included, and all the varied 
tasks are carried out with an attention to detail which would 
be surprising in anyone else. 

Whether he is really popular is hard to judge. The German, 
although loyal to a degree, is not enthusiastic, and his reception 
of the Kaiser when his Majesty passes through 
Poouter ? ^ e Greets strikes a foreigner as somewhat 
cold and forced. Perhaps the German con- 
siders loyalty has no need to be shouted, but is better 
demonstrated by making sacrifices in his country's and his 
monarch's service. 

In the person of the Crown Prince, whose character is much 

quieter than that of his father, the people of the German 

Empire have a future ruler who is not only 

T1 prince Wn res P ected for hi s ability, but thoroughly liked. 
His cheerful presence is welcomed everywhere. 
A soldier from the age of fourteen, he has followed the pro- 
fession of arms with earnestness and devotion. Although he 
is still very young — he was born in 1882 — he has travelled 
much, having paid a visit to the Far East, as well as to many 
of the Courts of Europe. This phase of his education, although 
of importance from the point of view of extending his know- 
ledge of the world through personal observation, passes into 
the background beside the complete training he has undergone 
and is still continuing in statecraft. He has undertaken, at 




Photo by 



Bieber 



THE CROWN PRINCE 



William II as Emperor 19 

his father's request, to go through a course of practical work 
in all the State ministerial offices, where, according to the 
Ministers themselves, he has proved a very apt pupil. 

Following the example of the Emperor, he has learned a 
trade, and is a very competent carpenter and joiner. He is, 
however, above all a sportsman in the true sense of the word, 
for he takes an active part in many games, although tennis 
is his favourite pastime. Yachting on the lakes round Berlin 
in a small vessel is also a frequent amusement. He has also 
made an ascent in an aeroplane. 

He married, in 1905, at the age of twenty-three, the Princess 
Cecilia of Mecklenburg, and the young couple already have 
three sons, so that the succession to the Imperial throne is 
well secured. 

The Emperor has taken such a pre-eminent position that 
foreigners are almost unaware that there are in the Empire 
twenty other ruling monarchs and princes, 
Other German some f w hom have occupied their thrones 
much longer than the Emperor has occupied 
the throne of Prussia. Duke George of Saxe-Meiningen is 
the oldest of these. He was born on April 2nd, 1826. Then 
follow Prince Charles Gunther of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, 
1831; Prince Henry XIV of Reuss (younger line), 1833; 
Prince George of Schaumburg-Lippe, 1847 ; King William II 
of Wurttemberg, 1849 ; King Otto of Bavaria, 1849 ; Grand 
Duke Adolph Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1849 ; Prince 
Gunther of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, 1853 ; Grand Duke 
August of Oldenburg, 1853 ; Duke Frederick II of Anhalt, 
1857 ; Duke Frederick II of Baden, 1858 ; Prince Frederick 
of Waldeck and Pyrmont, 1865 ; King Frederick August of 
Saxony, 1866 ; Grand Duke Ludwig of Hessen, 1869 ; Prince 
Leopold VI of Lippe, 1872 ; Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Altenburg, 
1872 ; Grand Duke William Ernest of Saxe-Weimar, 1877 ; 
Prince Henry XXIV of Reuss (old line), 1879 ; Grand Duke 
Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1883 ; and 
Duke Charles Edward of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 1885. 



CHAPTER III 

THE IMPERIAL CONSTITUTION 

This great Empire, with its immense population of over sixty 

millions and its enormous interests throughout the world, 

possesses a Constitution which does not rest 

A Documentary Qn tradition, as those of many other countries 

do, but is written down above the signatures 

of the heads of all the States forming the Federation. 

The interpretation of the Constitution has given rise to 
many arguments, more especially during that period of 1908 
when the Emperor was generally supposed to have exceeded 
his rights as head of the Bond. 

It was then argued in the Imperial Parliament that the 

Kaiser was not the Sovereign of the Empire, but simply the 

most important Prince among the body of 

Emperor Not ru i} n cr princes. This argument met with 
the Sovereign. ° r . . . ° 

much opposition at the time and, on examina- 
tion of the Imperial Constitution, cannot be upheld in all its 
force. 

That the Kaiser is not the ruler of the Empire de facto is 
true, although he exercises virtually absolute sovereign power, 
especially in regard to external politics, and he is also in the 
event of hostilities supreme commander of all the military 
forces of all the States composing the Empire. 

The real rulers, however, are supposed to be the Federal 
Council, representing all the Princes, States and free cities, 
and this view has been upheld by the Imperial Supreme Court. 

The King of Prussia, according to the Imperial Constitution, 
must be German Emperor and President of the Federal 
Union, in which all ruling sovereigns of the Empire possess 
supposedly equal rights. 

20 



The Imperial Constitution 21 

The Kaiser, however, from his position as such, is the 

representative of the Empire in the conclusion of treaties 

and in all other dealings with foreign Powers, 

ReP Empke the and witnout his consent no contract or treaty 

with any other Power can become binding. 

He alone of the ruling Princes is entitled to confer with foreign 

ambassadors. He alone has the right to declare a state of 

siege in any part of the Empire, and he does not require 

the consent of the ruler of that part of the Empire before 

making such a declaration. 

The Kaiser alone has the right to appoint the Imperial 

Chancellor and other Ministers, and may do so without 

consulting in any way the feeling of the 

AP Chlncd e ior. ° f countr y or taking into account the political 
tendency of the majority of the people. 
Of course, it is possible for the people through their repre- 
sentatives in Parliament to decline to vote supplies for a 
Chancellor whom they regard as unsuitable, and for this 
reason the Kaiser takes great care in his selection so as not to 
arouse the opposition of the people. 

Should the Chancellor, however, be defeated by a parlia- 
mentary majority, there is nothing to compel the Kaiser to 
remove him from office, and it has happened 

^opSlMWil? frec l uentl y that a Chancellor has suffered a 
parliamentary reverse without his position 
being affected. Usually in such an event the Chancellor 
makes slight changes in his propositions and, taking advantage 
of the divisions among the parties, secures a majority favour- 
able to his wishes by creating fresh combinations, sometimes 
casting aside for the purpose groups which have hitherto 
strongly supported him. 

The Chancellor is, in the true sense of the word, the servant 
of the Emperor. According to the Constitution, he takes 
the responsibility for all the Emperor's acts, but it is not laid 
down in that document to whom he is responsible. It 
certainly is not to the people, who are not permitted to pass 



22 Germany of the Germans 

a vote of censure on him through their representatives in 
Parliament and cannot call for his dismissal or resignation. 

Neither are any of the Ministers responsible to the Imperial 

Parliament, but to the Chancellor. They are not members 

of the parliamentary body, although they 

R^poSwe!* ma y s P eak in the House when the y like - No 

member of Parliament has the right to 
demand an answer to a question from a Minister, and the 
House cannot turn a Minister out of office. 

The Imperial Parliament is, therefore, only nominally a 
portion of the governing body. It has the right, it is true, to 
refuse to pass a bill presented to it by the Government, but 
in doing so it runs the danger of being sent about its business. 
If this occurred, another Parliament would be elected. In 
case the new Parliament took the same view as its predecessor, 
what would occur ? The question has often been discussed 
without eliciting a satisfactory response. 

The Federal Council, in that event, would not be con- 
stitutionally empowered to carry on the business of the 
Empire, for the consent of the Imperial 

Federal Council Parliament is requisite in order to make 
Unable to Act <• • . i ■% 

Alone. an y °* "S acts legal. 

It seems probable, therefore, that any 
such action on the part of Parliament would bring about the 
introduction of real parliamentary government, although this 
would be strongly opposed by Prussia, which, with its seven- 
teen votes in the Federal Council, exercises such a predominant 
influence, and, besides, has the support of many of the small 
moribund principalities. 

A glance at the principal articles of the written Imperial 

Constitution of April 16th, 1871, will be useful in determining 

the scope of the agreement, with the respective 

Principal rights of the Emperor, the component parts 

Constitution. °f the Empire and the two legislative bodies. 

It will be seen that the document binds 

the various kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, and free cities 



The Imperial Constitution 23 

into " an eternal union," from which no single member may 
break away without the consent of the others. 

Since the date on which the Constitution came into opera- 
tion, several of its clauses have been slightly changed. These 
alterations are included in the following synopsis of the 
fourteen sections containing in all seventy-eight articles. 

After a preliminary paragraph stating that " His Majesty 

the King of Prussia in the name of the North German Union, 

his Majesty the King of Bavaria, his Majesty 

An Eternal ^ King of Wiirttemberg, his Royal Highness 
the Grand Duke of Baden and his Royal 
Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine for the 
portions of the Grand Duchy of Hesse situated south of the 
Main, enter into an eternal union for the protection of the 
territory of the Union and the established law therein valid, 
also for the furtherance of the welfare of the German people," 
the Constitution goes on to say : " This Union shall bear 
the name of the German Empire and have the following 
Constitution." 

Section I contains only one article : 

" Article I. — The territory of the Union consists of the 

States of Prussia, Lauenburg, Bavaria, Saxony, Wiirttemberg, 

Baden, Hesse, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Saxe- 

T T !l e Weimar, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Oldenburg, 

Brunswick, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, 

Saxe - Coburg - Gotha, Anhalt, Schwarzburg - Rudolstadt, 

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Waldeck, Reuss (elder line), 

Reuss (younger line), Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe, Lubeck, 

Bremen and Hamburg, as well as the Imperial province of 

Alsace-Lorraine. ' ' 

The second section consists of four articles, giving Imperial 
legislation the preference over State legislation ; making the 
inhabitants of all the Federal States into German subjects in 
whatever part of the Empire they may choose to reside, 
giving the Imperial authorities supervision of import and 
export duties, commercial treaties, banks, coinage, weights 



24 Germany of the Germans 

and measures, patents, copyrights, consulates, railways, 
waterways, posts and telegraphs except in Bavaria and 
Wiirttemberg, the carrying out of civil and commercial law, the 
Army and Navy, the regulation of the medical and veterinary 
professions, and the rules for the Press and associations. 

Article 5 of this section nominates the Federal Council and 

the Imperial Parliament as law-making institutions for the 

Empire, and declares that the agreement of 

Law Makers ^ e ma J or ^ies of those bodies on a bill enacting 
Imperial legislation is necessary and sufficient 
to make it law. 

Section III comprises five articles, the first of which lays 
down the voting power of the various Federal States in the 
Federal Council as follows. The total number of votes is 
58, of which Prussia (comprising also the old province of Han- 
over, the electorate of Hesse, Holstein, Nassau and the city of 
Frankfort) is allotted 17, Bavaria 6, Saxony 4, Wiirttemberg 4, 
Baden 3, Hesse 3, Mecklenburg-Schwerin 2, Saxe-Weimar 1, 
Mecklenburg-Strelitz 1, Oldenburg 1, Brunswick 2, Saxe- 
Meiningen 1, Saxe-Altenburg 1, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha 1, 
Anhalt 1, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 1, Schwarzburg-Sonders- 
hausen 1, Waldeck 1, Reuss (elder line) 1, Reuss (younger 
line) 1, Schaumburg-Lippe 1, Lippe 1, Liibeck 1, Bremen 1, 
and Hamburg 1. 

To every meeting of the Federal Council each of these 

States is entitled to send as many plenipotentiaries as it has 

votes, but all the representatives of each 

Stat p ow ^ ting State must vote together, either for or against 

a proposal. 

The powers of the Federal Council consist in the drawing 
up and proposal of bills to the Imperial Parliament and the 
discussion of bills and resolutions passed by that body, as 
well as the carrying into effect of Imperial legislation. 

Every State belonging to the Federal Council has the right 
to bring forward proposals and the Council must discuss such 
proposals. 



The Imperial Constitution 25 

When a question arises affecting only certain States in the 
Empire, only the representatives of those States take part 
in the voting. 

On general questions of legislation a simple majority carries 
or rejects a bill or motion, but in questions affecting a change 
of the Imperial Constitution, fourteen votes cast against the 
proposal are sufficient to reject it. 

The Federal Council has seven standing committees, dealing 

with (1) the army and fortifications, (2) the navy, (3) the duties 

and taxes, (4) trade and commerce, (5) 

Committ railways, posts and telegraphs, (6) justice, 

(7) finance. On each of these committees at 
least four Federal States must be represented. The com- 
mittees are chosen by election in the Council, except in the 
case of the Army committee, on which Bavaria is always 
represented, and the Emperor nominates the other members. 

There is also a numerically stronger committee formed by 
the Council to deal with foreign affairs. This is always 
presided over by a Bavarian representative, and Saxony and 
Wurttemberg have the right to membership, while two other 
committeemen are elected by the Federal Council. 

Every member of the Federal Council has also the right 
to attend and speak at the sittings of the Imperial Parliament. 
He can claim to be heard there at any time, and may explain 
the views of his Government although the Federal Council 
may have rejected them. 

Section IV deals with the presidency of the German Union, 
which is definitely allotted to the King of Prussia, " who is 
to bear the title of German Emperor." 

E R^ e ht >r ' S ^ le ri& nts °* tne German Emperor as such 

are strictly laid down. " He has to represent 
the Empire in international affairs, in the name of the Empire 
to declare war or conclude peace, to make alliances or other 
agreements with foreign Powers, to nominate and to receive 
ambassadors." 

The declaration of war in the name of the Empire has to 



26 Germany of the Germans 

receive the consent of the Federal Council, unless an attack 
on the territory or the coasts of the Empire has been delivered. 

Any treaty or agreement with a foreign power which affects 
the Imperial internal law has to receive the 

The Making assen t f both Federal Council and Imperial 
Parliament. 

It rests with the Emperor to call together, to open, to 
adjourn and to close the Federal Council and the Imperial 
Parliament. Both must meet annually. The Federal Council 
may be called together in order to prepare its legislative work 
without the Imperial Parliament, but the Imperial Parliament 
may not meet without the Federal Council being called together 
at the same time. 

The Federal Council must be called together whenever a 
third of its membership demands it. 

The Imperial Chancellor, who is nominated by the Emperor, 
is president of the Federal Council and directs the business. 
He can, however, nominate another member of the Council 
as his deputy. 

The proposals of the Federal Council are sent to the Imperial 
Parliament in the name of the Emperor, and members of the 
Council or commissioners nominated by the Council attend 
the Imperial Parliament to represent the Council during their 
discussion. 

The Emperor has the duty of signing and decreeing Imperial 

laws and the supervision of their execution. The Emperor's 

commands and decrees are issued in the name 

Emperor f ^ £ m pi re anc [ require for their validity 

Signs Laws. r * . 

the counter-signature of the Imperial 

Chancellor, who thereby accepts the responsibility for them. 

The Emperor appoints all Imperial officials, swears them 
into the service of the Empire, and has the right to dismiss 
them. 

If members of the Federation do not fulfil their constitu- 
tional duties, they may be forced to do so by the Federal 
Council, and the Emperor must enforce the compulsion. 



The Imperial Constitution 27 

Section V is composed of thirteen chapters relating to the 

Imperial Parliament. It begins with the method of election, 

and says : " The Imperial Parliament is 

Parliament constituted through universal and direct 
elections with secret voting." The number 
of members, according to the law of June, 1873, is 397, of whom 
48 are allotted to Bavaria, 17 to Wurttemberg, 14 to Baden, 
6 to the province of Hesse south of the Main, and 15 to Alsace- 
Lorraine, while the remainder come from the constituencies 
of Prussia and Saxony. 

Officials of the Empire or the States may become members 
of the Imperial Parliament even while they are in active 
service, but any member of the Imperial Parliament accepting 
a paid office in the State or Imperial service, or any official 
who is a member and is appointed to a higher rank or is 
accorded an increased salary thereby vacates his seat and 
must seek re-election. 

The sittings of the Imperial Parliament are public. 

The Imperial Parliament has the right, within the compe- 
tence of the Empire, to propose new laws and to submit 
petitions which have been presented to it 

Pa pJ)ws n . t ' S to the Federal Council or the Imperial 
Chancellor. 

The period for which the Imperial Parliament is elected 
is five years. Its dissolution during that time can only be 
effected through a resolution of the Federal Council assented 
to by the Emperor. 

In case of dissolution the new elections must take place 
within sixty days, and the Imperial Parliament must be 
reassembled within ninety days. 

An adjournment of the Imperial Parliament for more than 
thirty days cannot occur without its own consent, and this 
must not be repeated during the same session. 

The resolutions of the Imperial Parliament are reached by 
absolute majority, but no resolution is valid unless a majority 
of the 397 members participate in the vote. 



28 Germany of the Germans 

The members are regarded as representing the entire people 

and not any particular constituency. No member can be 

prosecuted or punished for any utterance he 

Members ma y ma k e in the House, and carries no 

Nation. responsibility outside for what he has done 

in the Parliament. 

Without the consent of the House, no member can be 

called on during the session to answer any punishable charge 

nor can he be arrested unless he be caught in the act or within 

the next twenty- four hours. 

Section VI, with eight articles, deals with commerce and 
import duties. 

Section VII, with seven articles, relates to the railways 

and the right of the Empire to take them over in case of 

need. It also calls on the Federal States 

Empire and ^ Q nave a vj[ railways constructed or relaid 
Railways. . J 

on a single system. 

Section VIII, with five articles, concerns the posts and 
telegraphs. 

Section IX, with only three articles, refers to the Navy, 
which is placed under the supreme command of the Emperor, 
who names all officers and officials. The necessary funds 
for its upkeep are to be drawn from the Imperial Treasury. 

This section also places the supervision of the merchant 
marine under Imperial control. 

It gives the colours of the flag of the Imperial Navy and 
merchant marine as black, white and red. 

Section X, with one article, regulates the consular service. 

Section XI, in eleven articles, defines the military duties 
of every German, and designates the peace 
Military strength of the Army as 1 per cent, of the 
population. 

Section XII, with five articles, concerns the finances of 
the Empire, whose expenditure is to be covered by import 
duties and general taxes, from the surplus of the Imperial 
railways, the posts and telegraphs, and other branches of 



The Imperial Constitution 29 

Imperial enterprise. If these do not suffice, the Federal 
States are called upon to contribute towards the deficit in 
proportion to their population. 

Section XIII, with four articles, threatens with punishment 
any undertaking against the existence, the integrity, the 
security or the constitution of the Empire, and any insult 
to the Federal Council, the Imperial Parliament, or to a 
member of either, or to a public body or official of the Empire 
while carrying out his duties, or in connection with his office, 
by word of mouth or writing, in print or picture. 

Section XIV, the last, says proposed changes of constitution 
can only be effected by law, and are considered as rejected 
if fourteen votes are recorded against them in the Federal 
Council. 



CHAPTER IV 

Prussia's preponderance 

The position of the States of the Empire towards one another 

is a question of the greatest interest. It cannot be denied 

9 . . that Prussia has spread its influence to an 

the* States. enormous degree since the foundation of the 

Empire. Everywhere, whether in Saxony, 

Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, or elsewhere, one can see 

evidences of rapid Prussianisation. Whether this influence 

is a beneficial one remains to be seen. 

The German Empire has hitherto reaped one great advan- 
tage from its division into a number of small and, to a certain 
extent, independent States, each with its own Court and 
capital. Owing to the existence of these smaller seats of 
Government, the intellectual life of the Empire has been 
spread over the entire nation, and not all drawn towards one 
centre, as in some other countries. 

The influence of Prussia in connection with parliamentary 
affairs has always been reactionary. There is no doubt that 
at the present moment the great landowners 
"Prussia. °* P russ i a > favoured by an antiquated system 
of parliamentary elections, and a distribution 
of voting power which has not been changed for fifty years, 
control the policy of the Empire both internal and external. 
There exists even to-day a strong feeling of antipathy to 
Prussian methods in the other States, but they are powerless 
to oppose them. The overwhelming influence conferred on 
Prussia by the fact that the King is also Emperor, and that 
the interests of his dynasty are allied to those of the reactionary 
elements in his kingdom, must make itself felt, and the reac- 
tionary spirit shows few signs of weakening. Prussia also 
feels, owing to the fact that it was chiefly as a result of her 
military strength that the Empire was formed, that she has 

30 



Prussia's Preponderance 31 

a right to have the principal role in Imperial affairs, and she 
maintains that position with great force. 

Prussia has also another instrument in her hands by which 

she can usually force her will on the other States. The Federal 

Council, as has been declared in the Consti- 

In tjie Federal tution, has the power to reject any proposed 

change of Constitution of the Empire, even 

although the representatives of the people in the Imperial 

Parliament have approved of it. 

A further important factor in the position of Prussia towards 
the other Federal States is the fact that, owing to the gradual 
extinction of some of the reigning princely dynasties, a 
considerable portion of their territories will at some future 
time fall into Prussian hands. The succession to the dynasties 
of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Reuss (elder 
line), Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Baden, Hessen, Wiirttem- 
berg, Oldenburg, Saxe-Altenburg and Saxe-Weimar is very 
scantily provided for as regards male heirs, and in many of these 
cases there is a provision that the succession shall eventually 
fall to the King of Prussia, in other words, the Emperor. 

As a matter of fact, the Imperial idea already projects far 

beyond the federal idea. Scarcely anyone, in Prussia at least, 

ever thinks of Bavaria, Saxony or Wiirttem- 

The Imperial j^g as a se p ara te State. They are all mere 
parts of Germany and, in the Prussian mind, 
of Prussia ! 

Yet when the political progress of Saxony, Bavaria and 
Baden is taken into consideration, it is seen that those States 
are much better developed than is Prussia. 

Bavaria, for instance, has since 1906 possessed the direct 

secret vote in the election of the members of its Diet, which 

sits in Munich. Every citizen who has 

Constitution completed his twenty-fifth year is entitled to 

the franchise if he pays direct taxation, which 

means that he must have an income of £25 a year. Efforts 

are also being made to reform the Second Chamber, which, 



32 Germany of the Germans 

except for sixteen life members appointed by the Crown, 

consists of nineteen princes, two Crown officials, two 

archbishops, and forty-seven hereditary nobles. 

Saxony in 1909 obtained a reform of its electoral and 

parliamentary system, which had until then been as old-world 

as that of Prussia. Even now, however, a 

Reform in difference is made between the working and 
Saxony. . p 

the other classes of the population. It is true 

that under the new system every man has a direct secret vote 
at the age of twenty-five, but State and municipal officials 
as well as men with incomes of over £80 a year and small 
landowners are accorded a second vote, while persons with 
over £110 and officials with over £95 a year obtain a third vote. 
Men belonging to the liberal professions — lawyers, doctors, 
clergymen, engineers, chemists and technical experts — and 
others who can produce a certificate of higher education are 
permitted four votes, as are also men with more than £140 
and officials with £125 income. The Parliament is to be 
renewed in future in its entirety every six years instead of, 
as formerly, a third every two years. The result of the first 
election under the new system was the return of twenty-five 
Socialists to the Diet, where hitherto only one had been able 
to obtain a seat. 

Baden was one of the first States to introduce the direct 
voting system and manhood suffrage from the age of twenty- 
five. As a result, the Socialists have secured 

D 'n G B d° t6S suc ^ a stron § position in the Diet that they 
were in 1909 able to carry the election of a vice- 
president of the Chamber from their ranks — the first time on 
record in Germany that a Socialist has occupied such a position. 
In contrast to the liberal spirit of some of the other States, 
the political conditions prevailing in Prussia 
Mediaeval ma y we ^ ^ e d es }g na t e d mediaeval. According 
to the electoral system, every male aged 
twenty-five is entitled to a vote in the election of members 
to the Diet. The voters, however, are divided into three 



Prussia's Preponderance 33 

classes. This is effected by taking the total of the State taxes 
paid in each electoral district in Prussia and dividing it into 
three equal amounts, the first third of which is paid by the 
wealthy, the second by the middle class, and the third by the 
workers. The first class, therefore, consists of very few 
people ; occasionally only one person pays a third or even 
more of the taxes levied in a district. The second class 
consists of a somewhat larger number. The third comprises 
all the workers, some of whom do not pay any direct State 
taxes. 

Say, for instance, the first class comprises 1,000 men, the 

second 3,500, and the third 25,000, which is about the actual 

proportion. Each of these bodies then pro- 

T of e Vote?s SeS ceeds to the selection of > sa Y> 10 ° members 
of what is known as an electoral college, who 

then have to elect the member of Parliament. The election 

is usually a mere matter of form, for, with very few 

exceptions, the members of the first and second classes 

vote together, and there is thus a majority of two to one 

in favour of the candidate of the wealthier classes, so that 

the poorer section of the community is not represented 

at all. 

The actual totals of the three classes at the elections of 
1903 were : First class, 239,000 voters ; second class, 
857,000 voters; third class, 6,000,000 voters. Each of 
these classes, as explained, chose an equal number of 
members of the final electoral college, and the result of 
the system is seen in the fact that at that election not a 
single Socialist became a member of the House, although 
it is known there are over 3,000,000 Socialist voters on the 
register. 

Only in 1907 did the people secure a few seats, seven in all, 
and this shocked the reactionary parties which had hitherto 
had the entire monopoly to such an extent that they found 
means to invalidate some of the elections. 

Even in Prussia itself there is a clearly cut division which 

^—(2391) 



34 Germany of the Germans 

still further strengthens the hands of the feudal nobility and 

great landowners, who stoutly fight for the 

Feudal continuance of existing conditions, in spite of 

the fact that the Emperor himself, as King of 

Prussia, has promised reforms. 

The six eastern provinces of Prussia — East and West 
Prussia, Brandenburg, Pomerania, Posen, and Silesia — are, 
with the exception of the city of Berlin, which is in Branden- 
burg, entirely agricultural, and the seats of the ancient nobles 
are virtually all there. These six provinces return 225 
members to the Prussian Diet, as representatives of 14,800,000 
inhabitants, while the seven western provinces — Sachsen, 
Schleswig-Holstein, Hohenzollern, Hanover, Westphalia, 
Hessen-Nassau, and the Rhine — where industries have been 
developed largely, return, together with the city of Berlin, 
only 218 members for a population of 22,400,000. 

The same proportion exists in the representation of the 
country in the Prussian House of Lords, where, however, the 
members are either hereditary, nominated by the King for 
life, or are entitled to seats as high officials. The six eastern 
agricultural provinces send 200 members to the House of 
Lords, while the seven western industrial provinces, including 
Berlin, send only 118. 

The Prussian Upper House is not simply conservative in 

its tendencies — it is reactionary. Its members for the most 

part regard even the Diet — elected, as has 

Peers"* 1 ^ een seen > on an antiquated system and 
consisting almost entirely of conservative 
elements — as far too progressive, and they accordingly place 
obstacles in the way of all legislation. 

The internal administration in Prussia is carried on by 

one of the most complicated systems in existence, and even 

the Kaiser, who is wont to regard the con- 

Ad ^ i ?tem atiVe tinuance of political conditions in that State 
as necessary to the support of his dynasty, 
has recognised the need for reform and ordered a commission 
to inquire into the subject. 



Prussia's Preponderance 35 

One of the provincial councillors, in a speech in the Prussian 
Diet, called for the abolition of the greater part of the official 
machine, and demanded decentralisation, simplification and 
acceleration of work. At the present moment even the most 
minute details of administration are referred to the Ministry 
in Berlin, thus occasioning an amount of writing from one 
office to another and from inferior to superior officials that is, 
to say the least, quite unwarranted. The officials in the 
Ministry have, for the most part, passed all their official lives 
in Berlin, and know nothing whatever about the various 
districts on whose affairs they have to give decisions. 

The provincial councillor has in Prussia the most extensive 
political influence. He has the right to reject the appointment 
of school inspectors, he can release men from 
Provincial their military obligations, he can reduce the 
Power. taxes when he regards the taxpayer as having 
some claim to a reduction on account of 
misfortune or otherwise, he decides the provision for orphans 
and aged persons, he has the granting or refusal of infirmity 
pensions in his hands, he decides disputes about sickness 
insurance, and in many other departments of life he exercises 
control. As virtually all of these officials are appointees of 
the feudal nobility and great landowners, and in their official 
capacity are in possession of the information obtained by the 
police as to the political opinions of the inhabitants of their 
districts, they are placed in a position which enables them, in 
case they are inclined to utilize their power, to bring con- 
siderable pressure to bear on the people at times of parlia- 
mentary elections. In the smaller towns of the provinces, 
the correspondence of the local councils with the central 
government must pass through the hands of the provincial 
councillor on its way to its final destination, and his annota- 
tions on the documents are given the first attention by the 
administrative officials. 

Whether the inordinate influence thus placed in the hands 
of men who are dependent on the favour of the feudal nobility 



36 Germany of the Germans 

for their positions is ever exercised is, naturally, a question 

which a foreigner is incapable of responding to. Charges 

of that nature are, however, constantly made by the organs 

of the progressive parties. 

Germany is burdened with three questions of nationality — 

the Alsace-Lorraine an in the west, the Danish in the north 

in Schleswig-Holstein, and the Polish in the 

Questions of ^ They are all entirely separated from 

Nationality. J ■ . 

each other, and each offers difficulties of its 

own to be overcome. 

The problem of the future of Alsace-Lorraine, where the 
population had for many generations been under the influence 
of French culture, only to be suddenly transferred to entirely 
different influences after the war in which they were conquered 
by Germany, appears to be settling itself gradually. The 
people, especially those of the poorer classes of society, are 
losing touch rapidly with French traditions. Only among the 
older inhabitants and in the higher classes of society is French 
generally spoken. They are, however, not becoming really 
Germanised. They tend to form a class apart both from 
French and Germans. 

The people of the conquered provinces are striving 

constantly for a system of self-government, with a local 

parliament. At present there is what is 

The Conquered k nown as a provincial assembly, which is 
Provinces. 

elected by indirect voting and has no real 

power to legislate. 

The two provinces until now have been given no voice 

whatever in the Federal Council, although efforts to obtain 

representation in that body have often been made. They 

have, however, always failed, as the provinces have no 

constitution and do not possess a ruler. They are, therefore, 

on a different footing from that of the States of the Empire, 

which have hitherto opposed the granting of representation 

because they argue that if the governor of the provinces 

nominates the members of the Federal Council it wiU mean 



Prussia's Preponderance 37 

only the strengthening of the position of Prussia, as the 

Emperor, who is also King of Prussia, appoints the governor, 

who would consequently act as Berlin desired. 

The Polish question is a much more serious one. In the 

Polish provinces of Prussia the inhabitants do not affect to 

conceal their dislike of their rulers, and the 

The Polish Prussians do not take the best measures to 
Question. 

acquire their goodwill. The attempted colo- 
nisation of the provinces with artisans and German farmers 
has not achieved much success, as the Poles have shown 
themselves just as acute as their masters in driving bargains. 
The use of the Polish language, too, is extending, despite all 
repressive measures in schools and churches. The Govern- 
ment has tried the offering of rewards in order to win some 
of the people over, but with small results. The Poles are not 
permitted to enter the Government service unless they 
transform their names into German. 

The Danish question is at times rather acute, but the people 
of Schleswig-Holstein, among whom are many old German 

inhabitants, are gradually accustoming them- 

Danes Under se i ves f- German rule. Many of the sons of 
German Rule. . . _ . ■ f. 

the original Danish population, it is true, 

prefer to emigrate to America rather than submit to German 

allegiance, and in some families it is still the custom to send 

the children to school over the border in Denmark, so that 

they may keep in touch with the Danish language, but the 

majority of the people are contented with the new conditions 

and cause no trouble to the Government. 



CHAPTER V 

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT 

It has often been said, and with much truth if results are 
to be counted, that the German nation is puerile in politics. 

On every side — except among the Socialists and extreme 

Radicals, who argue that restricted opportunity is to blame 

for the apparent lack of political instinct — one 

Unripeness hears the assertion in Germany that the people 
are not ripe for Parliamentary government. 
It strikes a foreigner as strange that, wherever he goes, he 
should hear such an argument in connection with the popula- 
tion of a nation which is undoubtedly, as far as education is 
concerned, in the van of the world's progress. The dogma 
is fostered in every way, not only by officials and the feudal 
landowners, but by the State clergy ; and many of the people, by 
force of hearing it so often, have come to believe it themselves. 

Even the Socialist movement, with its advanced ideas and 
widespread propaganda, has not succeeded in affecting the 
enormous class of Germans who appear absolutely happy in 
being governed. Luckily for them, their public officials are 
honest and generally efficient ! 

It is certainly a fact that the best thinkers of the nation 
do not take part in its politics. Germany is still, politically, 
marking time, not moving from the place she 
5 mg occupied before the Empire was founded. 
The men of progress — the great industrial 
leaders who have done so much to raise Germany to its present 
prominent position among the commercial nations of the 
world — have hitherto almost entirely ignored the internal 
political controversies which have occurred since the formation 
of the Empire. They have been too much occupied in devel- 
oping the great resources of the country formerly allowed to 
go to waste. 

The feudal landowners and multitudinous petty nobility 

38 



Imperial Parliament 39 

have been accustomed for centuries to the exercise of prac- 
tically despotic power over the labouring classes. They have, 
since the organisation of the Imperial Parliament, owing to 
the lack of interest of the captains of industry, who are 
naturally more liberal-minded, been able to hold their own 
against the tide of popular desire to participate in government. 

The Imperial Parliament, it is true, is fundamentally 

constituted on the basis of one of the most extensive suffrages 

in the world. It is elected every five years 

PaSament to a ^ mtents an d purposes by universal and 

direct manhood suffrage, and by means of 

a secret ballot. Every man, unless a criminal or a lunatic, 

has a vote from the age of twenty-five. There are nearly 

14,000,000 qualified voters. 

While possessing this most democratic suffrage, the Parlia- 
ment in which the people's representatives sit is yet quite 
reactionary in spirit. 

Unfortunately for the Liberal parties, the constituencies 
were formed at a time when Germany was much more of an 
agricultural nation than it is now. Despite the enormous 
changes that have occurred through the development of 
industry and the consequent concentration of the more intel- 
ligent and enterprising people in large cities and industrial 
centres, no change in the boundaries of the constituencies 
has been made. The consequence is that rural districts are 
often largely over-represented, while urban districts do not 
get anything like a fair share of representation. For instance, 
Berlin, according to its population, is entitled, proportionally 
to the number of inhabitants in the Empire, to thirteen or 
fourteen seats in the Imperial Parliament, but has only six. 

An instructive idea of this inequality of representation may 
be obtained from the figures of the last 

Constit^endes. electi ™, in 1907, when the Conservatives 

polled 1,549,741 votes, and secured 85 seats, 

or one for every 18,232 votes; the Centre with 2,145,098 

votes secured 104 seats, or one for every 20,626 votes ; 



40 Germany of the Germans 

the National Liberals with 1,715,584 votes secured 56 seats, 
or one for every 30,635 ; the Radicals with 1,163,279 votes 
secured 43 seats, or one for every 27,054 votes ; the Anti- 
Semites with 281,633 votes secured 17 seats, or one for every 
16,566 votes, while the Socialists with 3,259,029 votes 
secured only 43 seats, or one for every 75,781 votes. 
If the Socialist voters were represented in the same ratio 
as the Conservatives they would have 178 members in the 
Reichstag, almost half the House. 

The majority of the Reichstag that was the direct cause of 
Prince Billow's fall from power, consisting as it did of the 
Conservatives, the Clericals and the Poles, represented only 
3,992,736 voters, while the minority, consisting of the Liberal 
and Radical parties, some of the free Conservatives and the 
Socialists, represented 6,948,552 voters. 

The members, who are paid an indemnity for every sitting 
they attend, are drawn from the following professions or 

callings : agriculturists, 106 ; liberal pro- 
M pSd erS fessions (including 37 authors, 67 lawyers, 

21 clergy, 24 teachers, 7 doctors, 63 State, 
municipal and private officials, and 1 artist), 220 ; manu- 
facturers, 21 ; small traders and artisans, 20 ; commercial 
men, 13 ; and independent gentlemen, 17. 

No fewer than 72 of the members belong to the nobility ; 
200 have served in the Army or Navy ; 240 have had a univer- 
sity education ; 188 are also members of the separate State 
Parliaments ; 45 are under forty years of age and the remain- 
ing 352 over that age ; 220 are Protestants, 141 Catholics, 
18 unsectarian, and 3 Jews, while 15 are atheists or decline to 
state their religion. 

The Reichstag, as well as the minor State Parliaments, is 

remarkable for the hair-splitting differences 
Parties between many of the fractions. This is 

probably brought about by the fact that the 
Parliament does not have any real participation in the Govern- 
ment. The Ministers are not chosen from among the members 



Imperial Parliament 41 

of the House, are not members of any political party, and 
are responsible only to the Chancellor and the Emperor. As 
the people's representatives are thus shut out from public 
office, they spend much of their time in debating theoretical 
differences among themselves. 

There is also a great lack of oratorical talent. Rarely does 
one hear a great speech delivered in the House. The speakers 
appear to desire to express themselves as though they were 
reading from a book, and their utterances do not seem to be 
spontaneous. The Socialist members, however, must be 
excepted from this rule. They at least have mastered the 
art of political oratory, and of saying clearly what they 
mean. 

It is argued by many that political and oratorical talent 

would grow among the people and their elected representatives 

if a system of Parliamentary government were 

Pe °Gove d rn n0t introduced - People with real ability would 
then, it is contended, spontaneously come to 
the front. Be that as it may, up till now the Government of 
the Empire, as well as of the many States of which it is 
composed, is not in the hands of the people, but is conducted 
by administrative officials over whose appointments the 
people have no control. 

The Reichstag has the right to grant or to refuse supplies, 
but on the only occasions in which it has exercised its power 
contrary to the wishes of the Government, it has been imme- 
diately sent about its business. This has happened on four 
occasions — in 1878, when the House was dissolved because it 
refused to pass the repressive bill introduced by Bismarck 
against the Socialists ; in 1887 and 1893, when the majority 
declined to vote increases in the Army ; and in 1906, when the 
Colonial policy of the Government was rejected. On each 
of these occasions the result of the new elections was the 
return of a majority for the Government proposals : not 
because the people were in favour of them, but because the 
voters were awed by the Government's firm stand. 



42 Germany of the Germans 

That the Government should consider itself as the servant 

of the public with the duty of carrying out the will of the 

people is inconceivable to German Ministers 

Me^OrgaV and State officials - Parliament is to them 
a mere organ whose duty it is to agree with 
their policy. The members of Parliament may suggest 
improvements to Ministers' proposals, but their co-operation 
in the work of law-making ends there. Ministers have become 
so much accustomed to an Imperial Parliament in which no 
party has ever had a majority that they have virtually ceased 
to look on it as more than a passive factor in law-making. 
They have always, or nearly so, been able to secure a majority 
by shuffling the small groups together, and have thus retained 
their almost absolute power to carry out their own or, rather, 
the monarch's desires. 

Yet there are two parties which exert, owing to their 
splendid organisation and discipline, and their power of 
making themselves heard, a great amount of influence over 
legislation. 

Although neither the Centre, or Clerical, party nor the 

Socialists have ever secured anything approaching a majority 

in the Reichstag, there is little doubt that 

C s e o n c ^ r a e lis a t g d the attitude of each of these parties must be 

considered when new legislation is projected. 

Perhaps the Socialists — who, in spite of their insignificant 
numbers in the House, are supported by practically the whole 
of the working population — throw the heaviest weight into 
the scale, with their scathing criticism and unveiling of abuses. 
The Government, even in the time of Bismarck, found that 
they were a very powerful force, and they have continually 
increased their numbers of voters ever since. It was fear of 
the growth of Socialism and a desire to arrest its progress 
which caused the introduction of the system of State insur- 
ance that has turned out to be such a splendid thing for the 
nation, but has not diminished the forward march of 
Socialism. 



Imperial Parliament 43 

The Centrists take a different standpoint. Their principal 

object, at the time of the formation of the party in the 

early seventies, when the Kulturkampf was 

P Rengion nd in fuU Swin &' WaS the P rotection of the 
interests of the Catholic Church, but not 

always quite in accord with the views of Rome. Now that 

the original cause of their existence is no longer in evidence, 

they form a party whose ultimate action can never be known 

by what has gone before. Always prepared to serve their own 

ends, sometimes they range themselves on the side of autocracy 

and at others they appear almost democratic. As a general 

rule, however, they are much more reactionary than Liberal, 

for they argue that their religious interests are better protected 

by the thoroughly Conservative parties than by those sections 

of the community possessing advanced ideas, which in their 

opinion bring danger in their train. 

The Conservatives, of which there are two groups, are 

professedly for Empire and Emperor before everything else, 

except perhaps the defence of privileges and 

r ,. vested interests, which they endeavour to 

Conservatives. ' J 

protect from any encroachment, wherever it 
comes from, while many of them would not resist the repeal 
of the laws for the protection of labour. 

The section known as the Free Conservatives consists of 
the less autocratic members of the old landed nobility, who 
have begun to recognise that the masses of the people have 
rights as well as duties. In the House, however, their point 
of view is almost identical with that of the more old-fashioned 
group. 

As to the Liberals and Radicals, who should stand for all 
that is best in the constitutional and parliamentary idea, they 

are at present weakened by division into many 
L Rad?cals nd ^^P 3 ' separated sometimes only by a shade 

of opinion, but the two opposite extremes 
bordering on Conservatism and Socialism respectively. Among 
them is a strong leaven of agrarianism and protectionism. 



44 Germany of the Germans 

The Socialists will have naught to do with them and the 

Centrists and Conservatives use them only when they have 

need of them. There is undoubtedly in the Liberal and 

Radical groups the making of a really great party, which, if 

only internal bickerings could be disposed of, is destined to 

lead Germany a long way along the road to Parliamentary 

government. 

An idea of the lines on which the parties or groups usually 

work is best given by quoting the official programmes. Perhaps 

the best way to do this will be to take them 

Party ^ ^ j ftie House from right to left of 

Programmes. J ° 

the Speaker. 

First come the Conservatives, whose fundamental principle 
is the maintenance of present conditions, except those relating 
to the social advancement of the working classes. The items 
of the party programme are : German unity under the 
Imperial Constitution, with the protection of the independence 
of the single States composing the Empire ; steady develop- 
ment of public and private rights based on historical founda- 
tions ; strengthening of administrative power on a monarch- 
ical foundation ; participation of the people in law-making and 
the self-government of municipal communities on the principle 
of utilising the organic elements of the people instead of equal 
universal suffrage ; furtherance of sectarian elementary 
schools ; settlement by law of the relations of Church and 
State, with liberty of conscience and no interference by the 
State in the internal affairs of the Church ; combating the 
favorisation of industrial capitalism by the encouragement 
of agriculture and the protection of small traders ; combating 
social democracy by protecting the honest worker ; support 
of military and naval armaments. 

Then follow the Imperial Party, or Free Conservatives, 
who adopt practically the same programme and nearly 
always work together with the Conservatives, except that 
they show a very slight leaning to Liberal views in regard to 
schools. 



Imperial Parliament 45 

Next to these are the Centrists, who are strictly clerical, 
and a party entirely separated from all others. Their declared 

object is to place Catholics and Protestants on 
Clerical an C q Ua j footing. They demand complete 

freedom for the Catholic Church in matters 
of Church discipline and organisation. The programme 
reads : To not only combat every attack on the independ- 
ence of the Church hierarchy, on the development of religious 
life and the expansion of Christian activity, but also 
to work for the restoration of and renewed constitutional 
security for the independence of the rights of the Church 
destroyed by recent laws ; the putting into practical effect 
of the legal equality of the recognised religions ; the defence 
and maintenance of the Christian character of the marriage 
rite ; the permission of Church schools and the real carrying 
out of the educational freedom promised by the Constitution ; 
the repeal of the Press limitations and of the Law of Associa- 
tions ; the decentralisation of administration and the self- 
government by the people in parishes, dioceses and provinces ; 
the limitation of Imperial expenditure, especially for the Army, 
by means of reasonable shortening of the period of military 
service and the reduction of the peace effectives ; equable 
and just distribution of the burden of taxation ; maintenance 
and encouragement of a powerful middle class of independent 
citizens and peasants ; freedom for all legal efforts towards 
the solution of social problems, and combating the principles 
and agitations which threaten property and social order. 

The National Liberals form a sort of bridge between 
Conservatives and Radicals. They are essentially patriotic 

in sentiment, upholding the existing consti- 
PaMottc 7 tution witn its system of separate States. 

They seek the further development of the 
Empire as a world power. Members of the party are left 
free to vote as they please in regard to protective tariffs. The 
party is noted for its participation in coalitions in support 
of the Administration, and has often succeeded in bringing 



46 Germany of the Germans 

the two extremes of Radicalism and Conservatism together. 
The official programme contains the following clauses : It 
is the task of the National Liberals in questions of Imperial 
and national policy, while laying stress on their long-tried 
loyalty to Emperor and Empire, to uphold towards both sides 
of the House their absolutely independent position, which is 
established on consideration for the good of all, and at the 
same time to watch over the old Liberal principles. The 
party considers that a time for pause has been reached in social 
politics, so that time may be given for the proper carrying out 
of those laws which have already been passed, but that social 
requirements should continue to be attentively observed. 
The party holds firmly to the principle that economic questions 
should not be made the foundation of political parties. 

The Radical party, of which there are two fractions, demands 

in its programme : Equal rights for all religions and all classes ; 

parliamentary government and social reforms 

Rights °* a ^ kinds ; free trade in all necessities of 

life ; while it supports necessary expenditure 

on armaments, although striving for the shortening of the 

term of military service. 

The last, but not the least important, party — the Socialists 
— is very extreme in its demands. Its programme contains 
demands for the ownership by the people of all land, mines, 
machines, tools and means of communication, and equal 
rights and opportunities for all in everything. The German 
Socialists have hitherto declined to co-operate with any other 
party in the House. They stand firm for unconditional 
Socialism. They participate in debates on all subjects with 
the greatest vehemence, bring skilful arguments into the 
discussions on all occasions, and furnish some of the best 
speakers in the Parliament. 

Various groups consisting of a few members each have 
been formed for the protection of particular interests. They 
have little influence on politics and on general questions vote 
just as the moment takes them. 



CHAPTER VI 

OFFICIALDOM 

State control is taking a continually extending part in the 
economic life of Germany. Scarcely any feature of life is left 

in which the State does not have some direct 
qI* i or indirect influence. It protects agriculture 

and industry from foreign rivalry, forbids 
unfair competition in internal trade, looks after the welfare 
of the workers, controls the exploitation of women and 
children, arranges the hours of labour, and sees that the 
workers are accorded the necessary meal times, while it also 
enforces compulsory thrift and hygiene, and insures workers 
against sickness, accident, infirmity and old age. 

Besides all these branches of State control, the Government 
wisely provides for the general education, organises police 
protection and the administration of justice, and it goes further 
by entering into trade, possessing and working its own coal and 
potash mines, running railways, cultivating forests and 
monopolising the post, telegraph, and telephone services. 

Then the municipalities supply gas, electricity and water, 
care for the poor and the insane, look after the sick, run 

tramways, public baths and libraries, under- 
Municipal ta ^ e ^ ma kj n g f ro ads, control the markets 

and a host of other works of public utility. 

Germany is undoubtedly, owing to its many and extensive 

State and municipal enterprises, the country where most 

officials are employed, unless the despotic bureaucracy of 

Russia be taken into account. 

A rough calculation shows that there are in the Imperial, 

State and municipal service, apart from the 

N OfficSs° f Arm y and Nav ^' no fewer than 2 ' 188 > 832 
persons. These are distributed over many 

occupations. The total employed by the railways is 563,684 ; by 

the posts and telegraphs, 319,026 ; in the police, gendarmerie, 

47 



48 Germany of the Germans 

prisons, law courts, palace guards, and the diplomatic 
and consular services, 390,005 ; as teachers, school officers, 
librarians and museum guardians 299,396 ; in the hospitals, 
including doctors, dispensers, nurses, office staffs and domestics, 
207,717 ; in forestry and game preserving, 125,980 ; in the 
Church, including clergy, missionaries and church officials, 
58,738 ; as street-cleaners, 16,506 ; and in cemeteries, 7,780. 

There are, besides all these, thousands of tax and revenue, 
insurance and other officials, mining and tramway employees, 
etc., whose numbers are not ascertainable, but who probably 
bring the total up to nearly 3,000,000. 

This army of officials grows in numbers from year to year, 
and with each new law dealing with 
Growing in sociological problems a fresh regiment is 
added. 

" For the people, but not by the people " is the motto that 
has been adopted by the Empire ever since Bismarck's effort 
to limit the spread of Socialism by introducing State-enforced 
thrift. 

The system has its advantages in that many things are 
well ordered, but it tends to create a governing class, which 
is inclined to regard itself as a select people apart from the 
non-official majority of the nation. 

Another danger in the taking over by the State of many 

branches of production lies in the killing of individuality, for 

the State measures the man in its employ 

Some on iy - n p ro p or tion to his producing power 

for the State, and the man gradually comes 

to regard himself as a unit which has only certain work to 

perform, and when it is performed there is no further 

impulsion to improve his own position either physically 

or intellectually, and consequently both he and the State 

remain continually on the same level. 

The masses of the people in Germany are always treated 
by the official classes as minors requiring guardianship with 
many restrictions. Since this method has been in vogue for 



Officialdom 49 

so long a time, the Germans, almost to a man, expect all 
ameliorations of their condition, political as well as economical, 
to be proposed by the administrative authorities. They 
would not dream of initiating anything of the kind 
themselves. 

The working of this system of bureaucratic administration 
as it affects some classes of the community may be seen from 

the fact that a Social Democrat is not per- 
socialists mitted to hold even an honorary office in any 

country district. An instance of this was 
seen a short time ago in the district of Potsdam, where a 
Socialist was chosen by the inhabitants of Michendorf as school 
overseer. The provincial councillor refused to permit him 
to occupy the office, and the decision was upheld by the 
Ministry, although there is no law against Socialists holding 
such an office. 

It has been asserted, and with some truth, that the affairs 
of the Empire are regulated by the 15,000 feudal nobles and 
great landowners who own the eastern provinces of Prussia. 
From among this class come all the higher Prussian and many 
of the Imperial officials, most of the diplomats and many of 
the officers of the Prussian army. They have for so long 
held sway in the administration of the country that they 
have come to regard themselves as the State, whose duty it 
is to govern the people. 

The administration is absolutely separated from any 
parliamentary influence, except that brought to bear on it 

by its traditional dependence on and support 

N ° P i a nflu^ce tary of the monarcn > in whose service and not in 
that of the people it imagines itself to be. 
Every official, high or low, would indignantly resent being 
called a public servant, and would not fail to assert that he 
was a State or Imperial official, as the case might be, intending, 
in his own mind, to explain that he was in the service either 
of one of the ruling princes or of the Kaiser. 

Even the highest official of the Empire acts on the same 

4— (»39i) 



SO Germany of the Germans 

idea, and indeed he has to submit to no other control than 
that of the Sovereign. 

The difference between the position of the German Imperial 

Chancellor and that of the Prime Minister of a State under 

parliamentary government is that the Chan- 

T ChancSi e or al ce ^ or ' s ^ rst duty * s to carry out the Emperor's 

policy, for which he has in some way to 
gather together a majority in the Parliament, which he 
regards as a necessary evil ; while a Prime Minister who has 
become such owing to the victory of his party at the polls 
has simply to carry out the desires of his supporters, who 
generally represent the majority of the people of the country. 
The Chancellor, as a matter of fact, has merely to exercise 
a certain amount of manoeuvring with the parliamentary 
parties in order to carry through the policy of his monarch, 
who desires the country to be ruled in the main by himself 
alone, and virtually without consulting the will of the people. 
The present holder of the office of Imperial Chancellor, 
Dr. Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, became a Prussian 

administrative official in 1882 and, after 
Herr von passing through all the grades, was in 1905 
Hollweg. selected by the Emperor, in his capacity as 

King of Prussia, to fill the office of Prussian 
Minister of the Interior. He later received the appointment 
of Imperial Minister of the Interior and Vice-Chancellor of the 
Empire. In these positions he utilized the excellent adminis- 
trative training he had enjoyed to the best advantage, under 
the leadership of Prince Biilow, until on the latter's resig- 
nation in July, 1909, he was nominated Chancellor of the 
Empire. 

The new Chancellor comes of an ancient Prussian family, 

which has had many connections with the 
r j? lly administration. His grandfather was Minister 

of Education about sixty years ago. The 
genealogy of the family has been traced back as far as 1287, 
when a member of the family was nominated by the then 




Photo by Diihrcn 

HERR VON BETHMANN-HOLLWEG 



Officialdom 51 

Markgrafs Konrad and Otto Brandenburg as collector of 
duties in Osterburg. Then in the years from 1300 to 1400 
several Bethmanns held municipal offices and others belonged 
to the clergy. After 1400 the family was well known in 
commerce and also as owners of house-property, and a 
manuscript is still in existence relating to a loan made by a 
Bethmann to the town of Goslar. The family continued 
increasing in wealth and importance throughout the centuries, 
devoting their energies to trade and banking. 

The palace allotted to the Imperial Chancellor in Berlin 
during his period of office was purchased by the Imperial 

authorities in 1875 for £300,000. Prince 
R ., 1S Bismarck was its first occupant, having 

moved from the neighbouring house in the 
Wilhelmstrasse, which is now the Imperial Foreign Office. 
The palace formerly belonged to Prince Radziwill, who 
acquired it in 1795. 

The country seat of the Imperial Chancellor at Hohen 
Finow has been in the possession of the family only since 
1855, when Felix von Bethmann-Hollweg purchased the 
property for £60,000. He made the estate into a model 
farm, and was made County Councillor of Upper Barnim, 
later becoming a Privy Councillor. Before his death in 1900 
he often entertained the Emperor at shooting parties, and this 
custom has been continued by the present Imperial 
Chancellor. 

All the other Imperial Ministers and Ministers of the 
numerous Federal States hold office as a purely personal 

appointment from their respective sovereigns 

Federi te states and are entirel y unaffected by the wishes of 
the parliaments which vote the budgets. 
There are no fewer than seventy-two Ministers and Secretaries 
of State in the kingdoms and principalities of which the 
Empire is composed, although in some of them the entire 
executive and legislative power is placed in the hands of 
the ruler. 



52 Germany of the Germans 

From the Ministers down through the ranks until the lowest 

grade of official is reached, the dogma of irresponsibility except 

towards his next superior in position, without 

Dogma of thought of public opinion, is carried. No 
Irresponsibility. ,° f r . . ' . 

official may have an opinion of his own even 

outside of his office. He is subjected to all sorts of restric- 
tions, not only as to his politics, but as to his private life. 
Should he attend a Socialist meeting or belong to certain 
societies or pin his faith to any other than the State Church, 
his misdeed is certain to come to the knowledge of his 
superiors and he is given to understand that he may not think 
for himself unless it be in the direction desired by his superiors. 
It is a most fortunate thing for Germany that, with so 
much of its public welfare in the hands of officials answerable 

only to the ruler, the virtue of honesty is 
Fktelif 1 ingrained in the nation. Only very rarely 

does an official break away from the" traditions 
and defraud the public. Each does his work and permits 
nothing to interfere with it. 

The loyalty of the lower ranks to their superiors is note- 
worthy. This probably springs from their army training, 
for in order to become an official or employee in the service 
of the Empire, the State or the municipality, the candidate 
has to fulfil Army service, and for many positions must have 
attained non-commissioned rank. This is the case in the 
police and gendarmerie and some other public services. The 
Government in many departments reserves half, and in others 
a large proportion, of the positions for worthy soldiers, who 
have a right to claim, after a certain service in the Army, 
admission into the civil service. 

Perhaps this influx of non-commissioned officers into the 

civil service accounts for the rather offensive 
Influence 7 tone °* comman d often adopted by policemen, 

postmen, railway employees, and other minor 
officials in Germany towards the public. In many cases 
it probably does not imply wilful rudeness, but arises 



Officialdom 53 

simply from the habit of command acquired while in the 
Army. 

Public servants are, however, in some degree encouraged 
by the authorities to regard themselves as standing on a higher 
level than other people, for the law imposes severe punishment 
on anyone using a hasty word uttered in remonstrance against 
an official's impoliteness, despite the fact that in many 
instances the official is the creator of the incident. 

With all this, the German people are as a rule, more espe- 
cially in Prussia, quite satisfied with the system as it is. One 
scarcely ever hears a murmur against officialdom except from 
the Socialists, who certainly often have to suffer from the 
repressive harshness of the authorities. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE ARMY IS THE NATION 

That the Army is the people can perhaps be asserted of 

Germany more than of any other nation. Every citizen 

considers service in the national defensive 

Citizen's forces as a natural duty. He thinks it un- 

Natural Duty. •.-,,• -, -, i -, 

worthy of any nation that its men should need 

to have attractions offered them in order to induce them to 

take their proper share in the defence of their country. 

Patriotism is a cult among the Germans. The German youth, 

as a general rule, looks forward with pleasure to the day when 

he is to don the uniform, and if, for some physical reason, he 

should be rejected he feels that he has not quite proved his 

manliness. 

The service in the Army certainly refreshes and builds up 
the young man's physical strength, awakes in him the feeling 
that he is performing a patriotic duty, and increases his store 
of energy for later years. The direct effect of the service on 
the man's mental capacity may not be so beneficial, as blind 
obedience to orders and unnecessarily strict discipline are 
rather apt to destroy initiative. 

Everyone recognizes that the Empire was founded and has 

been kept intact by the Army, and the popularity of the 

uniform is such that whenever a detachment 

Pooular 1 Passes the people turn out in crowds and, 

straightening themselves up, march along in 

time with the troops. The " tramp, tramp " of the soldiers 

seems to strike a sympathetic chord in the breast of every 

German — man or woman. Sometimes the burden of the cost 

is the cause of murmurs, but the money required is always 

voted and provided for by taxation or loan. 

Everybody is liable for service. Millionaires must serve 
shoulder to shoulder with peasants and artisans. For this 

54 



The Army is the Nation 55 

reason the soldier and sailor are treated everywhere with 
respect, for they are the flesh and blood of all classes, and when 
wearing the uniform one class cannot be distinguished from 
another. 

A proposal is on foot to place a supplementary tax on the 
estates left by persons who have not served in the active army, 
for it is argued that those who really serve give several years 
of their time to the State, while those who, on account of a 
physical deficiency which does not prevent them from 
following their trade, are relieved from service are saving 
money, and they should give some substitute to the State in 
kind instead of service. Such a tax formerly existed in 
Bavaria, where it was regulated according to income. It was 
abolished on the formation of the Empire. 

One is struck when in Germany by the upright figures and 

firm gait of the men of all grades of society. The sloucher is 

an absentee. The causes of this are to be 

Eff Nation ^ trace d to general service in the Army, with 
its healthy bodily exercise and discipline. 
The system has had a marked effect on the physique and 
length of life of the nation, which improve and continue to 
improve from year to year. It is said by German doctors 
that in this way more men have been added to the German 
nation than have been killed in battle since the Army existed, 
because if they had not come under the influence of healthy 
training they would have died much sooner than they now do. 
A notable consequence of the general liability for service is 
that even the men who have not been called on to join the 
ranks, owing to weakness of physique or some slight deformity, 
bear themselves uprightly, trying to emulate their brothers 
who have been trained. Cleanliness, too, is a notable feature 
of the German nation, for while the young men are in the Army 
they acquire a thorough knowledge of the value of hygiene. 
Tidiness of dress, although the cut and fashion may not 
always be up to West End ideas, is also universal in 
Germany. 



56 Germany of the Germans 

The German army is — both in peace, when it numbers 

something over 600,000, and in war, when it may comprise 

every healthy adult in the Empire between the 

Em chief the ages of 17 and 45, or something up to 5,000,000 
men — under the sole command of the Emperor. 
In time of peace, however, the three army corps of Bavaria, 
the two of Saxony and the single one of Wiirttemberg have 
their own internal organization, although they form part of 
the Imperial Army and are drilled, armed and exercised on 
the same system. The contingents of the other Federal 
States are considered as belonging to the Prussian Army, 
under whose administration they are. 

The organisation of the immense force available for military 
service, although not an easy matter, is effected with remark- 

. able simplicity. From his earliest boyhood 

every German knows that he will, if physically 
and mentally sound, form a unit of the armed forces as soon 
as he has completed his seventeenth year, and remain on the 
rolls until he has completed his forty-fifth year. The 
authorities do not worry him about his liability, however, 
until he reaches his twentieth year. In the meantime he 
has, in most cases, passed through an apprenticeship to his 
chosen trade or profession, or has adopted a calling of some 
kind. Probably he has also become a member of the local 
public gymnasium, where he has acquired the rudiments of 
drill and strengthened his muscles in preparation for his army 
service. In the early months of the year in which he com- 
pletes his twentieth year he must present himself at the 
district recruiting ofhce for medical examination and enrol- 
ment. Should a youth be absent in another part of the 
Empire, he must present himself there. If he is abroad, for 
which he is theoretically compelled to request leave from the 
military authorities, his parents or guardians must report that 
he is willing to serve, and he is usually put back for a year until 
the next enrolment. When neither a youth nor his parent 
reports, should he at some later time enter Germany he 



The Army is the Nation 57 

would be arrested as a defaulter and placed in the ranks 
immediately. 

The recruiting office registers all the details as to stature, 
strength, etc., and earmarks the recruits for the branch of the 
service for which they appear to be best fitted. A slight 
deformity does not exempt from liability. 

The recruiting commissioners consist of a doctor, a civil 

official and a military officer. On the result of their examina- 

_ „ . A tion depends the young man's military 

The Recruits. , . r ^, / -ii • -. / 

fortune. There are four possible judgments 

— fit, temporarily unfit, conditionally fit, and permanently 

unfit. 

It is interesting to watch the recruits as they enter the 
commissioners' cabinet — some healthy and gay, knowing they 
will surely be chosen, others trembling, fearing they will be 
rejected, still others knowing they are physically excluded 
from service. The examination is very severe and as they 
make their exit some, who hitherto knew of no ailment, are 
filled with despair, having been told by the doctor that they 
are seriously affected. About 30 per cent, of all presented 
are accepted as fully fit for the full two or three years' service. 
Many of the others — about 20 per cent. — are passed at once 
into the supplementary reserve, where they do only six or 
eight weeks' training, and are only called up to join their 
regiments to fill up for casualties in time of war. Others — 
about 2 per cent. — are put back for a year in the hope they will 
wax stronger. The rejections as totally unfit number about 
48 per cent. 

The regulations as to stature are so widely extended that 
most men presented for examination are liable for some arm, 
but no one shorter than 5 feet 0£ inch is accepted. The 
average stature of recruits is 5 feet 5| in. 

As to the origin of the recruits, statistics show that the 
agricultural districts and small towns supply the greatest 
percentage of men fit for service, and purely industrial 
districts the smallest percentage. Villages with a population 



58 Germany of the Germans 

not exceeding 2,000 furnish 64" 15 per cent. ; those from 2,000 
to 5,000, 11-27 per cent. ; towns from 5,000 to 20,000, 11-07 
per cent. ; from 20,000 to 100,000, 7*37 per cent., while cities 
of 100,000 and more inhabitants furnish only 6*14 per cent. 

The soldiers' education is, owing to the strictness of the 
compulsory school system, very satisfactory. Only sixty-two 
men in the entire Army were at the last recruiting period 
entirely illiterate. 

Recruits selected for the cavalry, horse artillery and mounted 

rifles have to serve three years in the active army ; those for 

the other arms only two, but the latter may 

Terms of ^ e remse d permission to leave the country 
Service. % . J 

during the third year. 

The formalities of enrolment, measurement and assignment 
to a corps over, the recruit returns to his home, where he 
continues his ordinary avocations for several months longer. 
Towards the end of the same year, when he is approaching 
the age of twenty-one, he receives the order to join his 
corps. 

The departure of the recruits, of whom, of course, there are 
many from the same district, is the occasion of a patriotic, 
although sometimes tearful, outburst, parents and friends 
accompanying them to the barracks or the railway station 
to cheer them on their way. 

To the general scheme of recruiting there are numerous 
exceptions. Any youth may, for instance, at eighteen years 
of age, if physically, mentally, and morally fit, join the Army 
or Navy voluntarily for a term of two or three years, except 
for the cavalry and horse artillery, in which he may enlist 
for three or four. These voluntarily enlisted men, of whom 
there are about 40,000 in the annual total of recruits, may 
re-enlist for several further periods if they attain non- 
commissioned rank during their first enlistment. Should they 
remain in the Army for twelve years they are entitled on 
leaving to a bounty of £40, and the right to candidacy for 
the postal, police and other civil services. 



The Army is the Nation 59 

Besides this class of voluntary enlistments, there is another, 
but smaller class of exceptions from the ordinary system. 

Volunteers. This consists of voun g men of superior 
education who, on producing certificates 
that they have passed a severe examination, such as would 
fit them to become officers, are permitted to serve as 
volunteers for a period of one year only, during which time 
they pay for their rations, arms, quarters and equipment, 
and if in the cavalry or artillery for their horses. They 
can hire one from the authorities for £20 in the horse artillery 
and cavalry, or for £7 10s. in the field artillery or army service 
corps. A written agreement by the parents or guardians to 
pay the necessary amount is required. 

These one-year volunteers, who, owing to the conditions 
connected with their service, naturally belong to the well-to-do 
classes, number about 10,000 annually in the whole Empire. 
In order to secure the privilege, they must have passed 
(1) the examination of the second class in a classical, semi- 
classical, or modern school of the first grade ; (2) the first 
class of a preparatory classical school or modern school of 
the second grade ; (3) the passing out examination of a com- 
mercial school, secondary school or school of industry ; (4) a 
trades school or upper private school. The privilege is also 
accorded to school teachers, doctors, chemists, veterinaries, 
theological students, and to youths who prove their ability 
in any artistic or scientific profession considered of 
public benefit, while even mechanics of extraordinary skill 
in their trade and actors in the State theatres are also 
admitted, if they are able to pass an elementary educational 
examination. 

Proof of education must be sent in to the recruiting com- 
mission with the application to serve as a one- 
Education. vear vomn teer, which must be made in the 
eighteenth year. If school certificates are not 
forthcoming, the candidate must notify his readiness to undergo 
an examination, including two foreign languages chosen from 



60 Germany of the Germans 

Latin, Greek, English and French. Candidates may also 
request to be set back for one or several years before 
serving, but not later than their twenty-fourth year. 
They may choose any branch of the Army or Navy or 
any regiment. 

Four months after entering the Army they undergo a prac- 
tical and theoretical examination, on the result of which 
depends recommendation as officers of the reserve on leaving. 
After six months' service, on proving their efficiency, they are 
promoted lance-corporal and after nine months corporal, and 
those who have shown their capacity to become officers of the 
reserve then undergo a further examination in theory and 
practice, the passing of which entitles them to promotion as 
reserve officer- aspirant. Thereafter, when they have per- 
formed one or two periods of drill in the reserve, they may be 
selected as lieutenant by the officers of their regiment, with 
whom the entire choice of their comrades rests. 

If, on the other hand, they have not during the year acquired 
sufficient knowledge of a soldier's duties, they may be kept 
with the colours to undergo further training. 

There is a still further class of exceptions, consisting of the 
Mennonites, or Anabaptists, whose creed forbids them taking 
an oath or performing military duties. These, unless they 
volunteer for service, are enrolled in an unarmed section of the 
forces, such as the hospital orderlies, military artisans or 
drivers, or else they do duty in the military administration 
offices. 

Ordained Catholic priests also are placed at once in 
the supplementary reserve, and are not called upon to 
drill. 

It is unnecessary to deal here with the training of the troops, 

which is virtually the same in every country ; 

Severe 6 ^ut ^ ma y ^ e men tioned that the discipline 

and the service itself are very severe, and 

during his term with the colours no effort is spared to make 

the soldier fully acquainted with his duties. 



The Army is the Nation 61 

Shooting is encouraged very extensively, but generally in 
the shape of volley-firing. Independent practice at targets 
is never extended to longer distances than 440 yards, as it is 
considered that volley-firing is the only effective musketry 
after that distance. This simplifies the instruction, as the 
soldier has not to worry about long sighting and wind allow- 
ances. He is, however, put through plenty of practice at 
the shorter ranges. There is not much time left to the soldier 
for sport or recreation, and, even if there were, the private's 
pay, which amounts in the line infantry and garrison artillery 
to only 6s. 5Jd. per month, and in the guards cavalry 
rises to 9s. 7£d. per month, does not afford very much scope. 
Latterly an endeavour has been made to increase interest 
in outdoor sports on Sundays in many regiments, but hitherto 
the soldier has preferred to spend his meagre spare time in 
walking out. 

The barracks are generally very roomy and clean. The 
soldier is warmly and well clothed and the 

Well Cared f Q0C j j g yer y g 00( ^ though roughly served. 

Cases of brutality by officers and noncoms 
against the men, which at one time were very frequent, are 
diminishing rapidly with the spread of education. The cases 
of cruelty brought to the notice of the authorities, which 
number about 500 annually, not a large proportion among 
over 600,000 men, are usually severely dealt with. 

It is a rather remarkable fact that, even after the soldier 
has served his term in the active army, he clings closely to his 
remembrance of his regiment, in most cases becoming a 
member of a veterans' society. He would not do this if 
universal service weighed heavily on him or if he were badly 
treated. 

The service with the colours completed, the soldier's duty 
to his country has not ended. He is then attached for varying 
periods to the different classes of reserve, as may be seen from 
the following table, setting forth the soldier's entire military 
life. This is divided thus : — 



62 



Germany of the Germans 





For Infantry, Engineers, 

Army Service Corps and 

Field and Garrison 


Cavalry, Horse Artillery 
and Mounted Rifles. 




Artillery 








Years. 




Years. 


Active army 


2 




3 


,, reserve 


5 




4 


Landwehr 1st div. 


5 




3 


,, 2nd div. 


6 




8 


Landsturm 


6 




6 



The Reserves. 



The reserves are called up in large contingents, sometimes 
as many as 300,000 men, each year for exercise with the active 
troops, but the same men are never mobilized 
two years in succession. Every man while 
in the reserve of the active army may be called to do 112 days' 
drill, but as a rule is only mustered for two periods of about 
a month each. When he passes into the Landwehr, or second 
reserve, he is brought up again, except when a cavalryman, 
on several occasions for from 7-14 days. The Landsturm, or 
last reserve, only attends an occasional roll-call. Noncoms 
and reserve officers are liable to more frequent calls than the 
privates. The supplementary reservists do duty in that 
branch of the service for twelve years. 

The Government, however, does not take the reservist 
away from his civil occupation without providing for his 
dependents. Wives of reservists are entitled to claim 30 per 
cent, of the usual rate of workmen's wages in the district where 
they live, while for each child a further 10 per cent, is allowed ; 
but the whole sum granted may not amount to more than 
60 per cent, of the usual rate of wages. 

The question of providing officers for this vast army has 
become a serious one under the prevailing conditions of com- 
mercial and industrial prosperity, which act 
as such a great attraction to men of energy. 
However, there is an extensive leisured class 
in Germany, consisting of the nobility and large feudal land- 
owners, which from family tradition and the ancient caste 
feeling sends many of its sons into the Army as officers. Added 



Provision of 
Officers. 



The Army is the Nation 63 

to these are the civil officials, who like to give proof of their 
loyalty by placing their sons to the Army career. 

A university education is not considered necessary, but the 
passing-out certificate of a higher classical or modern school 
is requisite for a candidate for the position of officer. Many 
officers enter the Army in this way, first serving six months 
in the ranks, but known as aspirant-officers. They must 
during this period attain corporal's rank. Thereafter, on 
giving full proof of their education, they are sent to a military 
academy for nine months, when they undergo a theoretical 
and practical military examination. They then return to 
their corps as ensigns and, if the regimental officers approve 
their selection, they are promoted to second lieutenant, which 
usually occurs from eighteen to twenty-one months after 
first entry to the corps. Bavaria, however, demands the 
higher qualification of passing the matriculation examination 
for a university from those entering as aspirants. Conse- 
quently the education of the Bavarian officer is usually better 
than that of the officers in other States of the Empire. 

Another source for the provision of officers is formed by 
the cadet schools, of which there are a number in Prussia, 
Bavaria and Saxony, where sons of officers and 
civil servants are educated from a very early 
age for a military career. They are subj ected throughout to very 
severe tests as to fitness. Some of them enter the Army directly 
as ensigns and must then wait eighteen months for promotion 
to second lieutenant, while others remain longer in the cadet 
school and enter the Army with the rank of second lieutenant. 

There are 25,559 active officers, 2,282 doctors, 2,303 pay- 
masters and 691 veterinaries. There are 403 generals, 2,988 
other staff officers, 6,425 captains, 4,797 first lieutenants and 
10,946 second lieutenants. A movement has been started to 
give the rank of sergeant-major-lieutenant to deserving non- 
coms, who will then be able to exercise the duties of officer 
should the number of the latter be at any time below the 
establishment. 



64 Germany of the Germans 

Considerable outcry has recently been raised against the 
apparent favouritism shown to officers who have inherited 
titles. There seems at first some reason for the complaint, 
as a glance through the lists of the higher officers of the Army 
shows few untitled names, while the guards regiments and 
corps stationed in large cities scarcely ever contain an officer 
who is not of the nobility. Those regiments stationed on the 
frontier and in small garrison towns, however, are mostly 
officered by untitled men. It may be, of course, that the latter 
owing to their less favourable financial circumstances choose 
to serve away from centres where the social life calls for heavy 
expenditure. 

Taken altogether, the German officers are a thoroughly 
loyal, sincere, hardworking, sport-loving and certainly efficient 
body of gentlemen, in the real sense of the 
Soldiers Before W0T( ^ Soldiers before everything else, they 
have their social limitations, but it may be 
taken as certain that every officer in the German Army is 
continually striving to improve his knowledge of his profes- 
sion, and is prepared to undergo any hardship he may be 
called upon to suffer for the benefit of the service. 

He usually enters the Army at nineteen as an ensign, has to 
wait one and a half years before becoming second lieutenant, 
five or six years later is lieutenant, in seven years more captain, 
and then has to wait another 12-13 years before reaching 
his majority. Then promotion is somewhat quicker for men 
of proved ability, who may become lieutenant-colonel in 
another two years and full colonel six years later. 

During this long period the officer does not become wealthy 
on his pay. As a lieutenant, he receives for the first three 
years £60 annually, from the fourth to the sixth year, £85 ; 
from the seventh to the ninth, £95 ; from the tenth to the 
twelfth, £110; and after the twelfth, £120. As captain the 
pay is from the first to the fourth year, £170 ; from the fifth 
to the eighth, £230 ; and the ninth year and after, £255. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NAVY 

" Germany's future is on the water,' ' in the words of the 

present Emperor, creator of the Imperial Navy. Before the 

accession to the throne of William II scarcely 

Wil Jj am a thought was given by German statesmen 

to the building up of sea power, but during 
the twenty years of his reign such a vast evolution of ideas 
has occurred that the German Empire may now be counted 
among the most powerful maritime nations. In the Emperor's 
opinion, Germany could not afford, in case of hostilities with 
a sea power, to wait on the defensive within her land borders 
for the enemy to come and attack. She must be prepared 
to take the offensive wherever the adversary may be found. 

His efforts throughout his reign have had this end in view, 
perhaps not with any intention of aggression, but in order to 
feel that, if necessary, his naval force might be able to play its 
due part in deciding a conflict with another nation. 

It must be confessed that he has been remarkably successful 
in interesting his subjects in the Navy. The Navy League 
— which, as head of the Navy, the Emperor, 
since its formation, has always patronized, 
although he is not actively connected with it — has become a 
most powerful organisation, exercising vast influence in all 
parts of the Empire. It numbers at the present moment 
nearly a million active and honorary members, despite the 
recent tribulations through which it has passed in consequence 
of the part some of its leading officials had taken in internal 
politics. The disturbing elements have been eliminated and 
the League, confining its work to the education of the people 
in naval affairs, hopes to build up a fleet as powerful on the 
sea as the Army is on land. It issues a periodical, Die Flotte, 
dealing purely with naval affairs and which has attained a 

65 

5— (2391) 



66 Germany of the Germans 

circulation of 375,000. It arranges for frequent lectures on 
the Navy, with moving pictures, in all the big cities. Members 
living far from the sea are taken on excursions to see the fleet 
when it is lying in one of the naval ports. It opens all over 
the Empire small naval exhibitions for the assistance of sea- 
men's homes and to pay for outfits for poor boys wishing to 
enter the naval service. Through its influence many of the 
newer battleships are named after provinces or cities, and this 
simple procedure has aroused the keenest interest in the 
various districts, which are thus reminded of their direct share 
in the fleet. 

The "Father of the Fleet," Grand Admiral von Koester, 

who has just retired from active service after serving fifty 

years, is the president of and the most active 

Fleet °* personality in the Navy League, to which he 

devotes his virtually unquenchable energy. 

School teachers are also enlisted in the work of spreading 
interest in the fleet among the youth. They lose no oppor- 
tunity in their references to memorable dates in the Empire's 
history of pointing out that the fate and future prosperity of 
Germany are bound up with the possession of a strong 
Navy. 

All these factors have worked together to bring the German 
Navy to its present standing. The Germans now have, and 
can rapidly build more, splendid ships ; they possess strongly 
fortified naval stations, and their sailors, although perhaps 
lacking in the experience of actual battle, are well drilled and 
splendidly disciplined, good seamen and gunners, and are 
besides active and earnest. 

This remarkable creation of a Navy is the work of twenty 
years, for it was only in the late eighties that serious con- 
sideration was given to the subject. The 

TWe Work earS ' first commander-in-chief of the Navy was 

appointed in 1889, when it was thought 

that, with the increase of oversea commerce and the 

consequent ever-present danger of conflict of interests 




ADMIRAL VON TIRPITZ 



The Navy 67 

with other lands, it was necessary to have a naval force to 
act as a protection to the rapidly increasing mercantile marine. 
Several vessels of nominal value were then in commission 
and very few additions were made for some years. In 1898, 
however, a programme of shipbuilding was drawn up and a 
law was passed by the Imperial Parliament providing for a 
fleet consisting of nineteen battleships (inclusive of reserve) 
and forty-two cruisers, large and small. 

This was but a beginning, for two years afterwards another 
programme became law, under the auspices of the then and 
present Marine Minister, Admiral von Tirpitz, which increased 
the strength of the Navy to thirty-eight battleships, 
fourteen armoured and thirty-eight protected cruisers and 
ninety-six torpedo boats and destroyers, the whole of which 
were to be laid down by 1916. Six further big cruisers were 
added to the programme in 1906. 

The sea-carrying trade in the meantime went up by leaps 

and bounds, until Germany has now taken second place 

on the list of mercantile marine nations. 

Devdopment. She is ' and has a P erfect ri & ht to be > proud 
of this achievement effected in so short a 
time. The wonderful development gave birth to the idea 
that she could also become a first-class fighting power 
on the water, and, with the stern determination of the race, 
she has set about the task of realizing this idea. 

In 1908 the naval programme underwent some changes in 
consequence of the decision to reduce the effective life of 
battleships from twenty-five to twenty years. The total of 
vessels provided for was not altered, except in the case of 
torpedo boats and destroyers, whose number was increased 
to 144. A large flotilla of submarines was added, and the 
whole programme is to be completed by 1916-17, whereas 
formerly the ships were only to be laid down by that 
year. 

The fundamental duties of the fleet are set out in the 
preamble to the naval law of 1900 as follows : 



68 Germany of the Germans 

1. Protection and representation of German commerce on 

all seas. 

2. Defence of the coasts of the Empire. 

3. Development of means of defence. 

The list of vessels built or to be laid down is 
The Fleet's th f l lowing . 
Composition. ° 

Home Active Fleet 

2 flagships. 
32 line of battleships. 

8 big armoured cruisers. 
24 protected cruisers. 

Vessels for Service Abroad 
8 big armoured cruisers. 
10 protected cruisers. 

Reserve Fleet 
4 battleships. 
4 big armoured cruisers. 
4 protected cruisers. 

Flotillas of Small Craft 

6 gunboats. 

10 training ships. 

12 special vessels, repairing ships, etc. 

144 torpedo-boats and destroyers. 

39 coast and harbour torpedo boats. 

Of the four squadrons of first-class battleships of which the 
Navy is eventually to be composed, two, besides two flagships, 
form the active fleet, which is always fully manned and armed 
and in readiness to proceed anywhere. The other two squad- 
rons of eight first-class battleships each form the reserve of 
the active fleet, half of which, according to the law, must be 
always fully manned and ready for immediate commission. 
Hitherto this law has not been carried out in its entirety, 
owing to lack of ships, but now that the newer, class of ships 



The Navy 69 

is being so rapidly laid down orders have been given to keep 
a reserve fleet of eight ships permanently in commission during 
six months at least of each year. 

The total of the personnel on the establishment for the year 
1909-10 was 5,521 officers and 51,547 men. 

There is a first reserve, consisting of men 
who have served in the Navy, of over 60,000 
men. A large number of these are engaged in the mercantile 
marine, which employs 33,932 seamen and officers, 22,779 
stokers and engineers and 15,142 boys and other ratings, 
making a total of 71,853. Others, to the number of some 
thousands, work as artificers in the shipbuilding yards. 
Many are employed in foreign merchant ships. All these, 
as well as the fishermen and inhabitants of coast towns and 
the men employed in river and canal traffic, are enrolled for 
service in the Navy if needed. 

The total number of artificers employed in the Imperial 
Navy yards is nearly 20,000, while the private shipbuilding 
yards, where many of the warships are built, employ no fewer 
than 50,000. 

Some naval men assert that the seafaring and semi-seafaring 
population is no longer sufficiently large to provide all the 
men required for the Navy and its reserves. 
It is a rather notable fact that most of those 
who enter the Navy as boys for a long period of service, and 
who in nearly all cases become petty officers, come from the 
inland town population. The fact has been of great service 
to the mercantile marine, which thus has its sailors trained 
for it by the Government. The increase in the number of 
merchant ships has of late been so rapid that this assistance 
is heartily welcomed by shipowners. The number of merchant 
vessels flying the German flag on January 1, 1909, was 
1,922 steamers, with a net tonnage of 2,256,783, and 2,345 
sailing ships, registering 433,749 tons. 

The system of recruiting for the Navy is similar to that for 
the Army, except that the seafaring class is specially set apart, 



70 Germany of the Germans 

but landsmen may enlist voluntarily, if fit, for a period of four 
years or more, and a considerable number do this. The usual 
term of service for ordinary recruits is three years in the 
active fleet, four years in the reserve, five years in the first 
levy of the second reserve and then till forty years of age in 
the second levy. The petty officers, who form the backbone 
of the Navy, often serve for twelve years. 

A considerable number of boys from fourteen and a half to 
eighteen years of age are also voluntarily enlisted, and these 
_ . . are compelled in return for their training to 

complete from nine to ten and a half years' 
active service. They serve on board the training ships for a 
year and a half, during which they make a long sea cruise 
lasting several months. After this period they are, if fully 
developed physically, posted to the warships of the active 
fleet as ordinary seamen. If, however, not considered as 
having acquired sufficient knowledge of seamanship, they 
must serve another year on the training ship. Then follows 
their three years' active compulsory service, and they must 
afterwards continue in the Navy for another four and a half 
years as a return for the cost of their training. Most of these 
boys become petty officers and remain in the service until 
entitled to a pension. 

About 700 young men also enter the Navy annually as 
one-year volunteers. Most of these are engineers and, after 
the completion of their year and one or two further terms of 
eight weeks' service in the reserve, may be appointed engineer 
officers of the naval reserve. 

The officers of the Navy are supplied from the naval cadet 
corps, into which youths with a higher school education enter 

N l Offi between the ages of seventeen and nineteen. 

They are first sent to a naval barracks for a 
month's setting-up drill and are then drafted on to the cadets' 
training ships, where they remain for twelve months and 
receive a very severe practical and theoretical training. An 
examination follows, as the result of which they are either 




H 
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The Navy 71 

dismissed as unsuitable or sent to the Imperial Naval College 
at Kiel. The course in this college, which lasts another 
year, is almost purely scientific, and at its conclusion the 
cadet undergoes a trying examination. If successful he is 
then sent to the gunnery and torpedo training depots for a 
six months' course of instruction and afterwards appointed 
midshipman in the active fleet, all the while receiving only 
the pay of an able seaman. In another two years, having 
in the meantime participated in various cruises and fleet 
manoeuvres, the midshipman is promoted to sub-lieutenant 
and launched on his career. 

The German " Watch on the North Sea," Wilhelmshafen, 
the new naval station on the North Sea, gives remarkable 
evidence of the fixed determination of 
th' N rtfc l S° n " ^ e German Empire to transform itself into 
a naval power. The town practically dates 
only from 1872, when its first church was built. To-day it 
has 27,000 inhabitants, with fine houses, official buildings, 
schools, parks, and, last but not least, an enormous fortified 
harbour with three entrances, to which the greater portion 
of the fleet is attached, including all the Dreadnought 
class. 

The rapid development in the number and dimensions of 
the vessels of the Navy made it necessary for the Marine 
Ministry to look outside of the boundaries of the Baltic for 
another naval base. Wilhelmshafen was the most suitable, 
as it possessed already ten years ago an Imperial shipyard 
for the construction of the largest vessels. The fact, too, that 
the latest designed war vessels were too large to pass through 
the Kiel Canal hastened the decision to fortify Wilhelmshafen, 
and it has now become almost impregnable. In the near 
vicinity are now, besides the Imperial yard, three private 
yards able to build even the 25,000 ton leviathan ships now 
under consideration. These are the yards of Blohm and 
Voss, in Hamburg, the Weser Shipbuilding Co., near Bremen, 
and the Vulkan Co., which has recently transferred its 



72 Germany of the Germans 

principal yard from Stettin to Hamburg, while another yard 
is being erected in Briinsbiittel. 

Wilhelmshafen has three enormous dry docks, and Briins- 
biittel is to have one — all capable of taking in and repairing 
the biggest ironclads. 

Kiel, the principal naval station on the Baltic, has hitherto 

been Germany's most important naval port. All the technical 

schools belonging to the Navy are situated 

Other Naval there> It is defended by the fortress Fried- 
richsort, with several other smaller fortifica- 
tions. The naval arsenal employs about 7,000 men. It 
possesses dry and floating docks capable of receiving the 
largest vessels afloat. 

Heligoland is also rapidly becoming a powerful naval 
station, but is principally utilised for the smaller class of 
vessels, such as torpedo-boats and destroyers, of which a 
large number are always stationed there. 

Cuxhaven is the central mining station for the fleet, while 
Geestemiinde is also a minor naval depot. 

The mouths of the Elbe and the Weser have been so 
strongly fortified of late years that they are now regarded 
as impregnable. 

At all of these points the work of making the fleet efficient 
and perfecting the instruction of the crews in the duties they 
must carry out in case of war goes on incessantly the year 
round. Squadron and fleet manoeuvres, torpedo attacks, 
landing operations in co-operation with the army, and mine- 
laying are constantly practised at different parts of the 
coast-line. No effort is being spared by those in command, 
with the Emperor and his brother, Prince Henry, at their head, 
to make the German fleet as powerful on the sea as the German 
Army is redoubtable on land. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE " AGE OF YOUTH " 

" The nation which possesses the best schools must take the 

lead : if not to-day, then to-morrow." These words, uttered 

many years ago by M. Jules Simon, the French 

Th | h*** 3 ? of statesman, appear at the present day to be 

strikingly true. Germany is the land of 

schools, and she is rapidly taking a leading place in the world. 

The present period of the world's history might with reason 
be called the " Age of Youth." Every class of society in 
every land is now devoting its most serious attention to the 
discovery of the best method of developing and educating 
the young, on whom the future of every nation depends. 

There exist, even in Germany, many and varied ideas as 
to what should be passed on to the young from the lessons of 
the past, and how it should be taught. The tendency to-day 
seems to be more and more in the direction of extracting from 
the past all that can be utilised for the practical needs of the 
present day, and leaving learning for learning's sake severely 
alone. 

Germany was one of the first countries to recognise its duty 

towards youth, and, many years before other nations turned 

their thoughts in this direction, compulsory 

to Youth ^ ree education was enforced in town and 

country. 

There are at present in the Empire 60,584 free public 
elementary schools with nearly 10,000,000 pupils, and 614 
private elementary schools, mostly denominational, with 
42,000 pupils, who pay fees. The scheme of education is 
similar in both public and private schools. The average 
number in a class is fifty-eight, but this falls as low as thirty- 
three in Liibeck and rises to eighty-five in Schaumburg-Lippe. 
Although the schools are free, parents who can afford to do 
so are obliged to pay for the requisite books and utensils. 

73 



74 



Germany of the Germans 



The total cost of the elementary schools amounts to 

£26,143,050 a year, of which the various State governments pay 

£7,507,700 and the local school authorities the 

remainder. The average cost of the education 

is nearly £2 14s. per pupil per annum. 

The variation in the cost of elementary school education in 

the large cities is set out clearly in the following table : 



Cost of 
Schools. 



No. of Elementary Annual 
Scholars per Outlay 
100 inhabitants per Scholar 


Cost falling 

on each 
Inhabitant 


Wilmersdorf .. .. 7'3 . 


£ s. 

... 5 1 


s. d. 
7 5 


Charlottenburg 
Schoneberg . . 
Frankfort-on-Main . 


9 
. 8-4 . 
9-1 . 


... 5 15 .... 

... 5 5 

... 4 12 


10 2 

10 6 

8 3 


Wiesbaden 


7-7 . 


... 5 12 


8 8 


Erfurt 


. 9-1 . 


... 2 6 


4 2 


Bonn 


. 11-1 . 


... 3 11 


7 9 


Miinster 


. 11-4 . 


... 2 18 .... 


6 8 


Diisseldorf 


. 13-2 . 


... 2 17 


7 6 


Coblence 


. 11-7 . 


... 3 12 


8 6 


Berlin 


. 11-1 . 


... 4 5 .... 


9 5 


Cologne 
Aachen 


. 13-1 . 
. 133 . 


... 3 5 .... 
... 2 17 .... 


8 1 
7 7 


Trier 


. 10-3 . 


... 3 10 .... 


7 3 


Elberfeld 


. 14 


... 3 13 .... 


10 2 


Rhendt 


. 16 


... 2 17 .... 


9 1 


Essen 


. 16-5 . 


... 3 4 .... 


10 7 


Duisburg 
Oberhausen . . 


. 16-7 . 
. 17-7 . 


... 3 2 .... 
... 2 2 .... 


10 

7 6 


Miinchen Gladbach . 


. 15-6 . 


... 2 17 .... 


9 1 


Krefeld 


. 13-4 . 


... 4 ... 


10 7 


Iserlohn 


. 17-3 


... 3 ... 


10 4 


Dortmund 


. 16 


... 3 9 ... 


11 


Barmen 


. 15-2 


... 3 18 ... 


11 9 


Gelsenkirchen 


. 19-4 


... 3 ... 


11 8 


Liidenscheid . . 


. 18-2 


... 2 10 ... 


9 2 


Bielefeld 


. 14-7 


... 3 10 ... 


10 3 


Remscheid 


. 17-3 


... 3 6 ... 


11 5 


Mulheim-Ruhr 


. 18-7 


... 2 9 ... 


9 1 


Solingen 
Heme 


. 16-5 
. 20-6 


.... 2 18 ... 
. ... 2 13 ... 


. 9 6 
. 12 1 


Bochum 


. 17-4 


.... 3 1 ... 


. 10 6 


Hamm 


. 17 


. ... 2 15 ... 


9 4 


Witten 


. 169 


.... 3 3 ... 


. 10 7 


Recklinghausen 
Hagen 


. 17-8 
. 17-7 


. ... 2 18 ... 
3 12 ... 


. 10 5 
. 12 7 



The " Age of Youth " 75 

In all the grades of schools the first great principle put into 
practice is the enforcement of rigid discipline and the fostering 
of patriotism and loyalty to the ruler. 

Rich and poor alike, with very few exceptions, begin their 
education in the free elementary schools, where the children 
are given a thorough grounding in the elements of education. 

The syllabus is not a very extensive one, but is taught in 
such a manner that it takes firm root. Every effort is made 
to keep the number of subjects taught within 
S Ubus ^ e narrowest limits, experience having shown 
that when the curriculum is spread over too 
wide a range the pupils learn very superficially. Arithmetic, 
reading, writing, modern German history and geography, 
especially with reference to the colonies, drawing, natural 
history, hygiene, physiology, and religion are the subjects 
on which most stress is laid. The natural history lessons 
are usually conducted in the open air, in the course of walks 
in the parks, the forests and the zoological gardens. Children 
are encouraged to write their impressions of everything they 
have seen and also to relate their experiences aloud before 
their class-mates. This has an excellent effect on their 
manner of expression, both written and spoken. 

The mechanical system of learning from books by heart, 

which until recently was the method usually adopted, is now 

abandoned except in cases where such learning 

Learning by j s absolutely necessary. More freedom is also 

Abandoned, allowed the pupils in working out their 
answers to the problems set them, and thus 
their personal initiative is encouraged. 

The German love of nature extends to the school-children, 
who usually on one afternoon a week are taken out into the 
country by their teachers for a ramble through the woods, 
where they, besides enjoying the fresh air, are taught the 
elements of botany and the nature of the soil, the names of 
birds and animals, etc. 

A society has been founded for the promotion of walking 



76 Germany of the Germans 

tours among the children during the school holidays, under 
the supervision of the teachers. The outlay is very small 
and the children are encouraged to save their pence towards 
the cost. Those who have no means are allowed to accompany 
the expedition free of cost. The children are housed in farms 
and country cottages at the various stopping-places and, as 
the tours usually last a week at a time, the pupils gain a 
considerable knowledge of the surrounding country. 

The purely impersonal relation which formerly existed 
between teacher and pupil has in this way undergone consider- 
able change of late years. In many schools, too, the system 
of monitors has been introduced with excellent results in 
teaching the scholars self-government and responsibility. 
The monitors are chosen by the pupils themselves. 

Teachers in Germany have the right to punish pupils, but 
this right has been often objected to, and has caused many 

quarrels between teachers and parents. On 
Punihment man y sides it is regarded as dangerous to 

allow a teacher to be at once complainant, 
judge and executioner. It has been proposed that a 
committee, comprising some of the pupils' fathers, several 
headmasters and teachers, should be called together in every 
case where corporal punishment is proposed by a teacher, 
and on their decision the case should be decided. 

The age of school attendance is in general from the sixth 
to the fourteenth year, but in some of the smaller States of 
the Empire slight variations are made. Even when a child has 
reached the minimum age limit for leaving, he or she has to 
secure by examination a certificate of efficiency. In many 
districts children are not permitted to leave school until after 
their confirmation, which is made a condition of release. 
It is the custom in Germany to start school in summer at 

seven o'clock and in winter at eight, but it 
Attendance * s P ro P ose d in future to make the time an 

hour later. 
The younger children are given instruction only in the 




A FUTURE KAISER 



The " Age of Youth " 77 

forenoon. Those of the higher classes, however, have to 
attend a minimum of thirty-two hours' study during the week. 
Of these four are devoted to scriptural instruction, increasing 
to six when the child is preparing for confirmation. 

Many complaints have been made that the education given 
in the elementary schools is precisely similar in town and 
country, in spite of the diversity of conditions and require- 
ments. It is recognised that the city children are well looked 
after in this respect, but the country children spend much of 
their time in acquiring knowledge which is of little or no use 
to them if they are destined to remain on the land. Farmers 
and landowners throw the blame for the desertion of the 
country by the growing generation of men and women on to 
this mistaken education. The various Ministers of Education 
have lent a willing ear to the complaints and have decided 
that in future the curriculum of the country schools, although 
retaining the groundwork of general education, shall provide 
for the gaining by the pupils of at least a theoretical knowledge 
of agriculture and other country work. 

Similar murmurs against the clerkly nature of the instruction 

given in the elementary schools were at one time very frequent 

in the cities, where it was found that large 

Instruct Ton numbers of the boys from the elementary 
schools on leaving declined to become appren- 
ticed as artisans. They preferred to start life as shop-boys 
and junior clerks, earning at the beginning a little more money 
and wearing better clothes than artisans' apprentices. A few 
years later, however, when it was almost too late, they found 
the road to advancement to the higher clerical and managerial 
positions closed to them by the entry into the business of 
technically educated higher school pupils, who commenced at 
a later age with better equipment. 

The lack of trained artisans meanwhile made itself felt, 
and in many cities, of which Munich and Charlottenburg were 
the pioneers, an entire change has been made in the elementary 
school instruction. In the latter years of the schoolboy's 



78 Germany of the Germans 

life he is given thorough instruction in drawing and provided 
with opportunities to acquire the elements of various handi- 
crafts, while the girls are taught practical household economy, 
cooking, dressmaking and laundry work. The result is that 
the interest of the children is aroused at the age when they are 
most receptive, and in Munich at the present moment nearly 
98 per cent, of the boys on leaving school become apprenticed, 
while the great majority of the girls enter domestic service 
instead of going into factories. 

In the city of Halle parents of elementary school children 

are asked during the last year of the child's school attendance 

to visit the headmaster and discuss with him 

Co-optation the <l uestion of the child's future. At this 
meeting the question is generally decided as 
to what calling the boy or girl shall adopt — health, inclination 
and adaptability all being taken into consideration. The 
school or town doctor's certificate of the child's state of health 
is always sought before a decision is reached. 

In every school district provision is made for classes for 
the deaf and dumb, the blind and the mentally feeble. Poor 
children are given food, mostly by private societies, which are 
subsidised by the municipalities. Cripples, of whom there 
are over 80,000 of school age in the Empire, are also cared 
for by private societies, which have erected sixty-three 
cripples' homes. 

Dentists have been appointed in several cities by the school 

authorities to inspect the teeth of elementary school children, 

who lose much of their school time owing to 

School toothache. The time occupied by a regular 

Doctors. inspection of teeth during school hours 

has proved to be much less than that lost 

by the children remaining absent in consequence of 

toothache. 

Doctors engaged by the school authorities examine every 
scholar before he is entered on the registers, and if the can- 
didate is found to be physically or mentally weak he is put 



The " Age of Youth " 79 

back for a year or even more, and then, throughout his school 
attendance, he is examined from time to time, and advice is 
given to the parents as to how he should be cared for. In 
Charlottenburg a trained nurse is in constant attendance in 
the elementary schools. 

The forest schools for anaemic and consumptive children 
have met with great success. The pupils attend them from 

the age of nine to thirteen. All the classes 
Forest are fei^ j n ^ e open air in the centre of the 

forest during the summer months. The 
pupils, when it rains, sit under a shelter, but still in the open 
air. In the Charlottenburg forest school 196 per cent, of 
the pupils are reported as cured of their maladies, while in 
Munchen-Gladbach no fewer than 73*5 per cent., and in 
Dortmund 533 per cent, have been restored to health and 
strength in these schools. 

In the cities and surrounding districts the school buildings 
and accommodation are excellent, but in the country in many 
instances they are very primitive. Mecklenburg is very 
backward in this respect, as well as in its scale of instruction, 
the ruling class, consisting for the most part of the feudal 
nobility, regarding schools for the working class as almost 
superfluous. 

In Bavaria, Protestants and Catholics usually attend 
different schools, but in some of the larger towns mixed 
schools have been organised despite the decided opposition 
of the more conservative Catholics. 

The teachers of the elementary schools (of whom there are 
166,597, including 29,384 women), to whom Germany owes so 

much for their faithful and trying services in 
T Th j® bringing the Empire to its present position as 

one of the best-educated nations, work for a 
very modest remuneration, which, however, is to be increased 
shortly. In Prussia they begin their career after a three years' 
course in training colleges as probationers, with a salary of 
£50, which is raised to £60 as soon as they are appointed to a 



80 Germany of the Germans 

definite post. Usually when the teacher has attained twenty- 
five years the salary is raised to £67 10s., which is increased 
every three years by £7 10s., until at forty years of age it totals 
£105 yearly ; then it rises again by £10 every two years, until 
at forty-eight years of age the highest total permitted, £145, 
is reached, when the teacher may retire. Besides the salary, 
however, there is an additional sum given in place of house- 
room, varying from £5 to £45, according to the situation of the 
school in the city or the country and the age of the recipient. 
With this addition, the highest income of an elementary 
school teacher under the best circumstances, after twenty- 
eight years' service, could attain £190. A woman teacher's 
salary would, under the same conditions, vary from £60 to 
£123 10s., according to age and situation. There are various 
grants which may be added for different objects. In other 
States of the Empire the salaries are, as a rule, rather 
lower. 

The idea seems to have taken firm hold of some educational 
authorities that greater frankness is desirable in informing 
children about their physical selves. Although 
*£jj nkn {!? s Germany is, comparatively speaking, a moral 
Necessary. nation, yet it is a recognised fact that im- 
morality among children and persons of very 
youthful age has spread and is spreading at a terrific pace. 
Many instances, here as in other lands, come to light of both 
boys and girls going astray from the paths of virtue merely 
through ignorance of the effects of their thoughtless acts. 
The time, it is thought, has arrived when children should be 
enlightened by their mentors, and not allowed to learn in a 
slipshod and dangerous way the mystery of life. In some of 
the schools evening classes for boys and girls separately are 
formed, to which the respective male and female parents or 
guardians are invited, and in a perfectly modest and refined 
way the children's minds are opened up. They are thus 
prepared for the perils and pitfalls that beset them in after 
life, and are taught the principles of right living. 



The '* Age of Youth " 81 

Compulsory attendance at evening continuation classes is 

advised for boys after they have left the elementary schools 

at the age of fourteen, and in Wurttemberg 

Compulsory anc [ Baden on both sexes. Until they have 
Schools. completed their seventeenth year, they must 
go two or three evenings weekly to receive 
theoretical and practical instruction in the trade or calling 
which they have taken up, and at the same time keep in touch 
with the subjects they have been taught in the elementary 
schools. Employers are obliged by law to arrange their 
working hours so as to permit of the boys' attendance at these 
classes, which are really excellent. Usually in the big cities 
centres are formed to which all pupils following one particular 
trade are sent. 

Continuation schools were first officially recognised in 1874, 
since which time the State Governments have voted money 
for their support ; but where possible the local authorities 
provide the funds. The average annual cost is £1,250,000. 
In Prussia alone there are over 1,600 continuation school 
centres, with an average attendance of over 300,000 pupils. 
The yearly course of study lasts forty weeks and each week 
from four to six hours' instruction is given. 

In the country continuation classes practical carpentry, 
gardening, seed and tree-planting and grafting, and the 
care of animals are taught to the boys, while the girls 
learn cookery, domestic and farm work, and the care of 
children. 

A Bill has recently been approved in principle by the 
Prussian Parliament to extend the age of compulsory attend- 
ance at these classes to eighteen, and there is every probability 
that it will shortly become law. 

In some States of the Empire special commercial schools 
have been founded, which train their pupils for a commercial 
career. Bavaria possesses no fewer than thirty-two of these 
institutions, while Prussia, which adopted the scheme many 
years later, has only two, at Cologne and Frankfort-on-Main. 

6— ^2391) 



82 Germany of the Germans 

Running concurrently with the elementary schools are the 

middle schools, which, however, are but a slight advance on 

the way to higher education. Their main 

Schools object is to permit parents to send their 

children to a" pay " school. Pupils remain 

in attendance until the age of fifteen or sixteen, paying 

moderate fees. They have the opportunity of studying Latin 

and English as extra subjects if they wish, while French is 

obligatory after the fourth year's attendance. 

A brilliant pupil of the elementary school has the chance 
of being sent to a superior school without paying fees. About 
5 per cent, attain this advantage, and may thus in the end 
reach the university. 

Children who are destined for the superior education 
necessary for a professional or higher technical career usually 
leave the elementary school at nine years of age. They may 
then enter a classical, semi-classical, or modern school, 
according to their bent. 

At the gymnasium, or higher classical school, Greek, Latin, 

English and French, literature, history and mathematics form 

the groundwork of the tuition, and the course 

Education °^ stu( ty ^ as ^ s n i ne years. The pro-gymna- 
sium has practically the same studies, except 
that the course does not proceed so far and lasts only seven 
years. 

In the real-gymnasium, or semi-classical school, more 
attention is paid to modern subjects and science, and Greek 
is not compulsory. Pupils, however, continue for nine years 
to matriculation. In the real-pro-gymnasium the studies are 
the same without the higher classes. 

In the superior and ordinary upper modern schools the 
classics are entirely suppressed, and the tuition of ancient 
history and literature is conducted by means of modern 
languages, while great attention is paid to scientific 
subjects. 



The " Age of Youth " 83 

The fees demanded for higher education are extremely 

moderate, averaging £7 10s. a year in the classical schools, 

£6 10s. in the semi-classical schools, and 

Moderate ?$ jq s - n ^ mo dern schools, besides books 
Fees. ~ 

and utensils. In Southern Germany the fees 

are somewhat lower. 

The Germans have entirely abandoned the old idea that 
the more useless the study the more honourable it is, and 
have decided that the certificates gained at the classical, 
semi-classical and modern schools are to be reckoned as 
absolutely equal from the point of view of standing. Pupils 
passing through any of these schools are now entitled to 
proceed directly to the universities. 

The pupils of all the high schools must exercise immense 

application in their studies. It is very rare for them to board 

in the school. The regular course of instruc- 

Much ^ necess itates six hours' class work every 

Application. , . . ,-,.,., -, e • i 

day, with an additional two hours lor special 

subjects and from two and a half to three hours' home work. 

The result of this strenuous application is that the Army 

recruiting offices report 45 per cent, of the lads unfit for the 

year's military training to which they are liable, while over 

70 per cent, become short-sighted. 

Until recently physical exercises among higher school 
pupils were almost totally neglected, only two hours a week 
being set apart for recreation in Prussia, and in Bavaria only 
one. Lately, however, efforts are being made to introduce 
athletic sports and outdoor games. 

The passing of the final examination, which is equivalent 
to matriculation, entitles the pupils of the upper classical, 
semi-classical and modern schools to go to the university 
and enter either the law or philosophical sections. They may, 
however, choose to enter the special technical schools, such 
as the mining and forestry academies or the veterinary col- 
leges. Entry into the first division of the post and telegraph 
service and into the Army as officer is also open to them. 



84 Germany of the Germans 

For the study of medicine the pupil must pass the classical 
or semi-classical school. Theological candidates are confined 
to pupils from the pure classical schools. 

The approach of the final examination is looked forward to 

by all the pupils with mixed fear and hope, for success means 

release from nine years' hard study and 

Matr i^ latl0n discipline mto tne absolute freedom of the 
university. Almost without exception the 
candidates pass, for the system of education is so thorough 
that the chances of failure are virtually eliminated. Then 
follows a series of festivities for the successful scholar before 
he leaves for three or four years' untrammelled liberty 
uncontrolled by masters or parents. 



CHAPTER X 

INTELLECTUAL HOTHOUSES 

German universities may be likened to intellectual hothouses, 
where the system of teaching forces the student to rapid 

growth in the direction that has been chosen 
Specialising f QT y^ s learning to take. The training to-day 

is almost exclusively scientific and highly 
specialised. 

The great strides made by the nation in the development 
of existing industries and the opening up of new ones during 
the past thirty years have created a demand for men possessed 
of a highly technical training. The universities, urged on 
by the Ministers of Education in the various States of the 
Empire, have turned a favourable ear to this call, and are 
furnishing men thoroughly equipped to take the leading 
places in the commercial and industrial world. 

It has even been a matter of complaint that those studies, 
which at one time were considered indispensable to a properly 

educated man, are now somewhat neglected 

Util Culture PlaCeS both ^ the educational authorities and by 
students. It is pointed out that the State 
can usually find an excuse for not filling a classical chair at 
a university, but whenever a demand is made for finances 
to support a new technical professorship the money is forth- 
coming. It is also a fact that students nowadays show more 
regard to the practical than to the classical side of the univer- 
sity. Only a little over a third of the undergraduates now 
pursue the contemplative studies — philosophy, philology, 
theology and history. The remaining two-thirds are attached 
to technical faculties. 

The most prominent men in every branch of learning are 
secured by the State to fill the professorial chairs, and they 
impart their knowledge to the students in a very systematic 
manner, so that a graduate finds himself at the conclusion of 

85 



86 Germany of the Germans 

his university career fully equipped for his chosen profession, 
and replete with specialised knowledge. 

The students belong, as a general rule, to the comparatively 

well-to-do classes. All must have passed three years in an 

elementary school, and then from the age of 

St d t n * ne *° e ig n ^ een have undergone the training 

of a classical, semi-classical or purely modern 
upper school, the passage of the final examination of either 
of which permits matriculation. 

Thence the student proceeds to one of the twenty-one 
universities spread about the Empire, many of which have 
gained world-wide renown as seats of learning. At the present 
moment there are 51,700 undergraduates entered on the 
university books, of whom 1,432 are women. Berlin takes 
first place in numerical importance with a total of 7,194. 
Then follow Munich with 6,547, Leipzig 4,581, Bonn 3,801, 
Freiburg 2,760, Breslau 2,347, Halle 2,310, Gottingen 2,239, 
Heidelberg 2,171, Marburg 2,134, Strassburg 1,935, Tubingen 
1,921, Minister 1,760, Jena 1,606, Kiel 1,593, Wiirzburg 1,369, 
Konigsberg 1,293, Giessen 1,271, Erlangen 1,158, Greifswald 
967, and Rostock 743. 

Heidelberg is, besides being the oldest, one of the most 
popular of the universities. It was founded in 1386, and was 
followed in 1409 by Leipzig, in 1419 by Rostock, in 1456 by 
Greifswald, and in 1457 by Freiburg. Berlin, Munich and 
Bonn, three of the most frequented universities, are quite 
recent foundations, having been founded respectively in 1810, 
1818 and 1826. 

All have the four principal faculties : theology, law, 

medicine and philosophy. Bonn, Breslau and Tubingen have 

separate Catholic and Protestant theological 

F it* s faculties ; Munich, Tubingen and Wiirzburg 

possess besides a faculty of political science, 

while Strassburg and Tubingen have also a faculty of natural 

sciences. Berlin is endowed with an agricultural high school 

as part of the university. 



Intellectual Hothouses 87 

In most of the Federal States exist purely technical high 
schools, which have recently been raised to the rank of 
universities, with the power of granting degrees. Before 
entering these high schools, a student must pass the usual 
terms in an upper classical or modern school and obtain the 
final certificate. 

The branches of study pursued by the students at the 
universities and technical high schools are as follows : 13,911 
(including 699 women), philosophy, philology and history ; 
11,657 (23 women), the science of law; 9,462 (371 women), 
medicine ; 7,385 (245 women), mathematics and natural 
sciences ; 2,398 (4 women), Protestant theology ; 1,766, 
Catholic theology; 2,198 (42 women), fiscal science and 
agriculture ; 1,454 (4 women), pharmacy ; 1,238 (44 women), 
dentistry ; 124, forestry ; and 107 veterinary medicine. 

All the universities in Germany except Strassburg and 

Rostock are now open to women students, but in most cases 

the permission has only recently been granted. 

StadSS. Until the winter of 1908 om y J ena > Lei P zi g> 
Heidelberg, Freiburg, Wurzburg, Tubingen, 

Munich and Erlangen received women students, and the total 

attending the lectures numbered under 400. As soon as the 

doors of the other universities were opened to women, the 

number increased to nearly 1,500. Besides the recognised 

women students, a large number of women are permitted to 

attend lectures as unattached auditors, all the universities 

without exception admitting them as such. 

At the university the student finds an entirely different 

life awaiting him from that which he has been accustomed to. 

He is now thrown absolutely on his own 
Life resources away from home and school control. 

There is no college system and he is com- 
pelled to seek for social intercourse among complete strangers. 
On going up to the university offices at the beginning of 
term to enter his name for the courses of lectures he intends 
to follow, the freshman finds groups of members of the various 



88 Germany of the Germans 

duelling corps and guilds promenading, with their multi- 
coloured caps and sashes, in the vicinity in order to attract 
new-comers to their ranks. In many cases the freshman's 
father or some relative has been a member of one of these 
corps and the young fellow feels traditionally bound to follow 
the example. 

Nowadays, however, the large majority of students do not 

join the corps, the alleged object of which is to develop 

chivalry and courage, but which as a general 

Corns 12 ru ^ e ° n ^ encoura g e their members to drink 
and instil into them supersensitive feelings 
in regard to personal honour, which must be defended with 
weapons when it is supposed to have been hurt. 

The becapped student, so often caricatured with his 
gashed face and bloated body, must not be accepted as the 
representative of the average German undergraduate. He 
exists certainly and often stays for years at the university 
devoting his time to hard drinking and useless fencing. 
Very often the gashes on his face and head are the sole signs 
that he has been to a university. 

The really representative German student is found outside 
the ranks of these antiquated brutalising guilds, living quietly 
and modestly in a boarding-house or furnished room, and 
applying himself with earnest purpose to the acquisition of 
book knowledge which he hopes will be useful to him in his 
future career. Usually the student must exist on a very 
slender allowance from home. Sometimes he depends on the 
income from a private or Government scholarship which he 
has gained at the expense of terribly hard study at school, 
and often he ekes this out by giving private lessons. 

As to the course of study, an almost appalling seriousness 

and technicality pervades it, which is not relieved by any 

kind of social intercourse or sport. Even the 

Study ° language used by the professors and students 

is a thing apart from that of the ordinary 

person, to whom it is almost incomprehensible. 



Intellectual Hothouses 89 

There is no attempt made to carry out any scheme of 
general culture. The point of view taken is that, if a man 
desires to devote himself to a certain branch of knowledge, he 
must renounce his interest in those events of everyday life 
which are not directly connected with or do not lead towards 
the goal which he is attempting to reach. Everything else 
must give way to the object he has in view. 

If the student does build up his character he does so despite 

the system. Happily the education he has acquired at the 

secondary schools is of a more general nature, 

N °B C 'id* :aCter otherwise the graduate of a German univer- 
sity would be a being even more widely 
separated than he is from the rest of the nation. 

Germans who have studied at a university are in far too 
many instances inclined to despise those who have not, what- 
ever the natural gifts and intelligence of the non-university 
man may be, and however much real practical knowledge he 
may have acquired. 

The whole tendency seems to be to form a class spirit, but 
even among the students themselves there is very little 
community of interest. A student of one 
branch of science will take no interest what- 
ever in the studies of a comrade who has selected another 
course. Very few of the students know their class comrades, 
and still fewer are personally acquainted with their 
professors. 

Discipline is rather lax during the lectures, the professors 
being often interrupted by the entry of late comers. 

Students are, however, not entirely released from control 
except as far as their moral welfare is concerned. They 
are subject to certain restrictions in regard to politics, the 
State contending that, as a considerable amount of public 
money is spent on the universities, the students who reap 
the benefit of the outlay are under its guardianship. They 
are, therefore, forbidden to participate in political meetings, 
as it is considered that, owing to their unripe age, they 



90 Germany of the Germans 

are likely to be led away by the arguments of the orators 
and to form erroneous opinions on questions of public 
interest. 

The quality of the instruction is without exception good, 

but owing to the stress laid upon memorising, it tends to 

develop that pedantry and dogmatism which 

InS Good 10n are suc ^ nota ^ e traits of the German univer- 
sity man, who will not listen to the opinion 
of anyone who is not a college man and has not made an 
academic study of the subject. The professors appear to 
encourage this arrogant spirit, for they themselves seem to 
imagine that their teachings comprise the whole sum of what 
can be known on their speciality, and that when the students 
have memorised their teachings they have reached the 
culminating point of wisdom. 

One great advantage German students possess is that the 
most prominent active scientists in every branch of knowledge 
are appointed professors at the universities. In this way the 
very latest achievements and discoveries are explained to the 
students at first hand by the inventor or discoverer himself. 
Professors, too, are exchanged between the various univer- 
sities, so that the whole nation benefits by their teachings, 
and the knowledge imparted to students is uniform. The 
superintendence exercised over the universities by the State 
ensures a steady constancy in the educational system and 
keeps the professorial body braced up to its work, although 
the objection is raised that it tends to bring about a certain 
mechanical course of teaching. Private tutors exist, but 
not to such an extent as in other countries, as cramming for 
examinations is scarcely known. 

The arrangement of the courses of lectures is such 
that students are compelled to specialise, and even to 
specialise on a branch of a science. The professorships 
are so numerous and the lectures so multiplied that a clash 
would come if a student attempted to arrange a general 
course. 



Intellectual Hothouses 91 

The length of the undergraduate's stay at the university 

depends principally on the profession he has chosen. Law 

students usually stay up for three and a half 

Studies years, Catholic theological students the same 

period, Protestant theological students four 

years, mathematicians and natural scientists, philologists 

and historians and medical students five years. A new term 

begins every half-year and the university year is divided into 

winter and summer semesters. 

The Catholic students incline more to classical education 
than the Protestants, who devote their energies to technical 
training. Statistics from the Rhine district, where the 
population is 70 per cent. Catholic, show that only 40 per cent, 
of the technical students are Catholic, while in Posen, where 
the proportion of Catholics is the same, only 15 per cent, of 
students of that sect attend technical lectures. In Bavaria, 
also, similar facts are recorded. 

The teaching at the universities is the subject of considerable 
murmuring from those who would prefer to see more indi- 
viduality among educated men. It is argued 

Machine a ^ a t ^ e un i vers ity m Germany is a mere 
workshop for turning out special parts, each 
batch of which consists of units of a likeness to each other 
which is excellent when applied to parts of a machine, but 
becomes monotonous when the system affects human beings. 
This uniformity, however much it may be deplored by ideal- 
ists, seems to be called for at the present day, which demands 
technical accuracy and the suppression of individuality, so 
that the whole organisation shall progress with mechanical 
smoothness. Parents and teachers no longer ask themselves, 
" How shall we bring out the best in our sons or our pupils ? " 
but too often, without consulting the youth's desires, " How 
can we best make our sons or our pupils useful to themselves 
and to us ? " 

Happily this is not always the case. The student sometimes 
strikes out for himself and asserts his individuality, with the 



92 Germany of the Germans 

result that there is an extraordinary number of men in Germany 
who have carried their studies so far as to obtain the title of doc- 
tor of law, of music, of philology, of philosophy, 

Doctors °^ tk e °l°gy> °f mechanics, of sciences, or of 
some other of the many branches of knowledge. 
The title is to-day extremely difficult of attainment at most 
of the universities, and it always involves the accomplishment 
of original work. The candidate for the title must necessarily 
be a graduate of a university. He must send in an application 
to the professor of the branch of study in which he desires to 
undergo an examination. The professor usually selects a 
number of themes on which no original work exists. The 
candidate chooses one and writes a long essay, which he sends 
in for examination. Then he must undergo the trying ordeal 
of an oral examination by three professors on the subject 
selected and on the result of this depends the granting of the 
doctor's hood. 

The Germans, usually so thorough, have not yet become 
convinced of the benefit to be derived by the nation and the 
world through the provision of opportunities for all classes 
to attain the highest education. The shutting out of the 
overwhelming millions of the working classes from this advan- 
tage undoubtedly means the loss of much brilliant intelligence 
and intellectual vigour, which must exist among the working 
classes in equal proportion to the other less numerous but 
more fortunate classes to whom higher education is now 
confined. 

Although the working class and many of the middle class 

are thus virtually cut off from the enjoyment of university 

education, yet at some of the universities 

Working Class evening extension lectures are provided at 

Excluded. very moderate fees and have proved extremely 

successful. The University of Leipzig took 

the lead in this movement some ten years ago and the results 

have exceeded all expectations. In the winter of 1908-09 

eighteen courses on varied subjects were arranged in the 



Intellectual Hothouses 93 

university buildings under the guidance of the professors of 
the faculty at fees ranging from Is. to 3s. No fewer than 
6,989 persons, men and women, attended regularly, most of 
them belonging to the middle classes, but also including 227 
artisans and 147 working women. 

Taken altogether, despite their traditions, the German 
universities do not impress as being the centres of national 
refinement and culture. This is brought about, not because 
the refinement and culture are absent, but because the life 
of the university does not tend to cultivate these qualities. 
The personal touch does not exist between professor and 
student, nor even among the students themselves, except in 
connection with the duelling corps, whose influence is in 
many quarters regarded as exactly the opposite of refining. 
There is no college life to inculcate a system of self-discipline, 
and the young man, just released from a school where his 
every move has been controlled, is thrown entirely on his 
own resources among utter strangers, often with very grave 
results to his character. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE BATTLEFIELD OF CREEDS 

Ever since the Reformation Germany has been a battlefield 

of creeds. Divided as it is into two great camps — Protestant 

and Catholic — the struggle then begun has 

Two Religious ^en con tinued without cessation until to-day. 

By the Imperial Constitution complete 

freedom of conscience and absolute toleration are assured 

to all Germans ; but in the carrying-out of that clause of the 

Constitution a considerable difference is made between the 

sects, Jews and Dissenters being made to suffer many 

disadvantages. 

As a matter of fact, no candidate for an official position 

would have the slightest hope of success if he or she were a 

Dissenter. The candidate may be a Hebrew, 

Dissenters as ^^ sec ^ j g a | so v i r t U ally a State religion ; 

but for the rank of officer in the active Army 
or Navy Hebrews are not eligible. There are also other 
disabilities for Dissenters, in that they are not permitted 
to go through a religious marriage ceremony nor to have 
their children baptized, and they are deprived of burial in 
consecrated ground. 

Religion has undoubtedly exercised an immense influence 
on the life and development of the Empire. After the French 
war, in all probability in consequence of the general mourning, 
Germany for a period seemed to be overflowing with religious 
fervour. The churches were always filled. The movement 
for Sunday observance, which had to a great extent lapsed, 
became powerful, and, helped by the demand of the workers, 
a weekly rest-day has now become compulsory in all factories, 
while shopkeepers are forced to close during church hours 
and from two o'clock in the afternoon onward. 

94 




Photo by 



Frith 



PULPIT, TRIER CATHEDRAL 



The Battlefield of Creeds 95 

When, however, the sharp grief over, the war losses began 
to be allayed by the passage of time, the German people 
became greatly dissatisfied with the poor 
Poor Religious re iig} ous f are offered them. This dissatisfac- 
tion has led to the development of a deep 
feeling of indifference and a wholesale desertion of the Church, 
especially by the working classes. 

There are to all intents and purposes three State Churches 
— the Evangelical, the Catholic and the Hebrew — each of 
which has the right to levy taxes for its own purposes on all 
ts nominal members. The sum raised depends upon the 
amount of income-tax paid by the person taxed, generally 
being 15 or 20 per cent, on the total of the income-tax. 

The latest returns show that the Evangelical Church raised 
in 1908 taxes to the amount of £2,184,153; the Catholic 
Church £779,667, and the Hebrew Church £298,176. Besides 
these amounts, in the country districts, the parishioners were 
compelled to supply a considerable quantity in kind. The 
Budget of the Prussian Ministry of Public Worship also 
provides nearly £400,000 annually in aid of stipends and 
expends besides £900,000 on public worship. 

Of the three State Churches the National Evangelical 

is numerically the most important, comprising at the present 

moment nominally 62T per cent, of the 

Ch li population, a decrease of nearly 1 per cent. 

since 1895. Its organisation is extremely 

simple. 

The sovereigns of the different States are the nominal heads 
of the Church, but where they happen to be Catholic, as, for 
instance, in Bavaria and Saxony and some of the smaller 
States, their powers are transferred to the Ministry of Public 
Worship and the Superior Consistory. The States are divided 
into several consistories or synods, each of which comprises 
several dioceses composed of a number of parishes. The 
hierarchy is formed of general superintendents, superintendents 
and parish clergy. 



96 Germany of the Germans 

Each parish elects or selects a Church council, which meets 
occasionally under the chairmanship of the pastor to transact 
Church business and parish affairs. 

Every candidate for the clerical career must have attended 
a classical school for the full term of eight or nine years. 
Thence he proceeds to the university, where he 
C r r must study for at least three years, during 

which time he attends lectures for from four 
to five hours daily, and must also study for at least three 
hours a day in private. The fees for the lectures are very low. 
The first examination, the passage of which entitles him to 
become a candidate for the ministry, takes place after three 
years, and is very severe. The successful candidate, who is 
now officially recognised, must continue his studies for another 
two years, in the meantime taking a short course in the 
science of teaching, before he is admitted to the second and 
final examination for ordination. Probably in the interval he 
has benefited by one of the many bursaries for theological 
students and has entered a seminary where he obtains every- 
thing free. Before final ordination he must be twenty-five 
years old and have served his year in the army. 

The pastors are nominated by the consistories representing 
the State, but the consent of the parish has to be obtained 
before a clergyman can take up his duties. The pastors are 
not regarded as direct State officials, although the State 
guarantees them a minimum income. 

In the majority of instances the Protestant pastors belong 
to the lower middle class, many of them being the sons of 
small Government officials, clergymen and 
Protestant school teachers. Their stipends are regulated 
by the Ministry of Public Worship and range 
in Prussia from £90 to £210 a year, according to the importance 
of the parish and length of service ; but in addition free resi- 
dence is given, with generally a small glebe. In Berlin and 
other great cities the stipends are higher, averaging £350, but 
ranging up to £850 a year, with an allowance instead of the 



The Battlefield of Creeds 97 

glebe of £75 a year. All are entitled to fairly substantial pen- 
sions on retirement, and the widows and orphans of the clergy 
are provided for by means of a compulsory insurance fund. 

As a class, with some few notable exceptions, the State 
clergy cannot be said to have much personal hold over their 
congregations. In their sermons they are prone to become 
academic and to speak over the heads of the people, and the 
lack of simplicity is so great that the congregation often leaves 
the church with only a very vague understanding of the subject 
that has been preached about. Touch and sympathy with the 
strivings of the people seem to be almost entirely missing. 

This has no doubt been a great factor in the shrinkage of 

Church membership, which has progressed so rapidly in the 

past three or four years. In Berlin alone 

Flight from 170OO formal secessions have been handed 
the Church. ' . . 

in to the Church authorities in the past 

three years. In 1908 they numbered over 10,000. Recent 

statistics show that only 9 per cent, of the members of 

the Evangelical Church ever take the Communion. 

In the whole of the Berlin Protestant churches in 1908 only 
50,264 persons took the Holy Communion out of a total of 
considerably over 500,000 adult members of the Evangelical 
State Church. 

The working classes, urged thereto by their Socialist leaders, 
who strongly object to the union of Church and State, are 
formally leaving the Church in serried ranks. The step has 
to be taken with all the legal formality of a sworn affidavit, 
which must be countersigned by the authorities. The move- 
ment has become so strong that the Church authorities have 
issued warnings in all the newspapers as to the forfeits the 
people are making ; but these have hitherto been in vain. 

The Socialists argue that the Church is far too indifferent 
to the well-being of the working man, and that the pastors 
endeavour to influence the political opinions of the people in an 
intolerable way. They accuse the clergy of being first State 
servants and Christian teachers only as a secondary business. 

7— (2391) 



98 Germany of the Germans 

One of the most usual causes given by the unofficial middle 

classes for their action in leaving the Church is naturally the 

compulsion to pay Church taxes. This would 

Causes n0 * a PP ear so narsn if the ordinary uniformed 

policemen were not used to enforce the 
Church's demands. The parishioners rarely receive a visit from 
a clergyman to inquire into their spiritual needs. If, however, 
they are entered on the police registers either as Catholic 
or Protestant or Jew, at some time in the year a paper will 
be presented by a revenue official demanding payment of 
Church taxes. If these are not paid at the exact moment 
stated, the brokers are put in and great expense is occasioned. 
In the case of a foreigner who registers himself as a Dissenter 
the trouble is endless. Time after time, at the instance of 
the Church authorities, the police visit him, demanding a 
certificate proving that he has left the National Church. He, 
of course, never having belonged to it, cannot produce proof 
that he has left it, and an inquisitorial cross-examination is 
then carried out by the police in order to obtain some indica- 
tion whether the offending Dissenter, or his wife or children, 
who have furnished no proof of desertion of the National 
Church, have been baptised or married in a church anywhere, 
and if it develops that such an act has happened, the Dissenter 
is mulcted in taxation for the Protestant or Catholic Church, 
whichever it may have been. These are facts from personal 
experience. A foreigner may possibly escape paying the 
taxes to the German Church by joining a church of his own 
nationality, if one exists in the district in which he resides, 
and paying for a pew therein ; but this privilege depends on 
the Church authorities. 

The formal break with the Church is, however, of small 

proportions compared with the growing apathy of those 

who, while continuing to pay their Church 

^Element""* rates anc * rema i n i n g nominally members of 
the various churches, display absolute indif- 
ference. They take no part whatever in services or Church 



The Battlefield of Creeds 99 

work. This is more marked among the wealthier middle 
classes than any others. 

Many of these are earnest, good people, who without doubt 
retain their Christian belief, but look on the official Church 
as unsatisfying. The Church, however, is regarded as one of 
the strongest pillars of the monarchy and, devotedly loyal as 
they are, they consider that it is their duty to belong to 
the State Church. Then, too, the women cling to the 
State Church, as hitherto the free religions have not been 
developed to such an extent as to offer them a substitute, 
and, Christian as they are in spirit, they say to themselves : 
" Better an unsatisfying State Church than no Church 
at all ! " 

Indications are not wanting that some of the younger and 

more liberal pastors have noticed the shrinkage of Church 

members and recognised its causes, and are 

Fight for taking steps to reform their methods. The 

fight for reform will be a severe one ; but 

with a nation like Germany, which has a deep-rooted desire 

for religion, the victory will probably go to the reformers. 

The separation of the Church from the State will almost 

inevitably be an accessory to this victory and the Church 

will then take its proper position in the nation. 

In the meantime, the working of religious life in Germany 
tends to descend to a purely mechanical basis. The eight 
years spent by the children in learning texts and creeds 
and Psalms by heart are followed by a further un- 
interesting drilling of the young people for confirmation, 
during which the Bible becomes to them a dull and dreary 
text-book. The child sees in the whole course of religious 
instruction nothing but a compulsion to learn things which 
he does not understand spontaneously and which are not 
properly explained to him by means of the lessons applicable 
to daily life to be drawn from them. So soon, therefore, as 
he reaches an age when he is permitted to decide for himself 
he gives it all up and lapses into indifference. 



100 Germany of the Germans 

The other great State Church, the Catholic, has during the 

past fifteen years improved its position in the Empire. In 

1895 it numbered only 35*8 per cent, of the 

Th Church° llC P°P u l a tion ; now it comprises 365 per cent. 
Whereas Protestantism is overwhelmingly 
represented throughout the centre of the country, Southern, 
Eastern and Western Germany are principally Catholic. 

Remarkable evidence of the activity of the Catholics in 
Germany is shown in some statistics just published. The 
number of members of the Catholic Church throughout the 
Empire has, according to these figures, increased in forty 
years by 77 per cent., from 12,489,371 to 22,094,492. The 
number of establishments belonging to Catholic brotherhoods 
and sisterhoods increased during the same period from 996 
to 5,211, while the number of persons residing therein rose 
from 9,735 to nearly 60,000. 

To judge by the increase in numbers, the Catholic Church 
appeals more to the sympathies of the people than does the 
Protestant. At any rate, the priest is nearly always more 
popular than the pastor. He certainly seems to exercise 
an influence on his flock politically and thus secures in most 
of the local State Parliaments, as well as in the Imperial 
Parliament, a powerful representation of Catholicism. 

Perhaps the thrifty manner of life of the Catholic priest 

appeals directly to the peasants, for the Catholic Church 

finds the majority of its adherents in the 

Priest is agricultural districts. The priest lives among 

them very modestly on his small guaranteed 

stipend and takes interest in everything that happens in his 

parish. In many cases he is himself a son of the land. 

He has to pass through a training which is probably more 
severe than that of the Protestant pastor, and is always under 
a stricter discipline. His education follows practically the 
same course as that of the Protestant pastor, except that he 
must attend a university with a Catholic theological faculty, 
of which there are eight : Munich, Strassburg, Bonn, Breslau, 



The Battlefield of Creeds 101 

Munster, Tubingen, Wiirzburg and Freiburg. At its con- 
clusion, if he has been ordained sub-deacon, he is usually 
dispensed from active military service, and nominated to a 
parish by the bishop, with the approval of the State authori- 
ties, which do not interfere with the hierarchy, the discipline 
or the customs of the Church in any way. 

Catholic clergymen begin with £75 annually as sub-priest, 
rising after five years' service to £90 as priest, after ten years 

to £115, after fifteen years to £130, after 
St d twenty years to £145, and after twenty-five 

years to £160. This is raised by the col- 
lections in the church when possible, but if the parish is 
too poor, the stipend is raised by means of a Church tax 
which the ecclesiastical authorities are empowered to levy 
pro rata on the income-tax of the Catholic parishioners. A 
proposal is on foot to increase the maximum stipend obtain- 
able to £200 annually, which if passed will change the period- 
ical augmentations in the following manner : The priest will 
begin with £90 as before, but after only three years' service 
will receive an increase to £100, after six years to £110, after 
nine years to £125, after twelve to £140, after fifteen to £155, 
after eighteen to £170, after twenty-one to £185, and after 
twenty-four years to £200. The Government had proposed 
to make the maximum £225, but the bishops considered the 
higher sum would lead to the disappearance of the simple mode 
of life among the priests. The Prussian Government grants 
£175,000 yearly to the Catholic Church to assist in payment 
of stipends. 

There are many liberal Catholics in Germany who regard 
Romanism and Catholicism as two entirely different things. 

Among these are some of the University pro- 
Catholics fessors, who have lost the confidence of the 

Vatican because they persist in pursuing their 
studies and teachings in an unrestrained and unprejudiced 
way. They are often disciplined by Rome for expressing 
unorthodox views, which tend towards adapting Catholicism 



102 Germany of the Germans 

to modern ideas. The Government, whose officials the 
professors are, has in many cases, especially in Bavaria, had to 
give way to the pressure of the Church and remove these 
liberal-minded heretical professors from their chairs, as the 
hierarchy forbade Catholic students to attend their lectures. 
Notwithstanding these set-backs, the liberal movement 
appears to be making great headway in Germany, where the 
people are disinclined to dismiss all the teachings of science 
at the bidding of what they are beginning to regard as a 
foreign church. 

The Catholic Church, as well as the Evangelical, has also 
its struggle against the indifference of the people and their 
reluctance to attend places of worship, although the formal 
giving up of Church membership does not occur so often as 
in the Protestant Church. 

The Jewish Church has similar rights to those possessed by 
the Catholic and Protestant Churches in regard to levying 
Th T Church taxes on Jewish parishioners. The 

Jewish Church is formally controlled by the 
State, which, however, never or rarely interferes. The 
regulations of the Church vary in the different provinces and 
States, and even in the districts of one province they sometimes 
differ. Each synagogue is practically self-governing and 
chooses its own rabbi. In Bavaria, Wiirttemberg and Baden 
the Jewish Church is regulated by synods. 

In the schools a strong feeling has recently arisen against 

the prominent part taken by the clergy in the direction of 

the children's education. In Saxony the 

Schools elementary school teachers have gone so far 

as to demand that religious instruction, or 

Bible readings, should be given without any sectarian 

comment. They are strongly supported by most parents in 

their demand, but the Church authorities offer the sternest 

opposition to any such proposal. 

Although in everything else the German law denies any 
person under the age of twenty-one the right to make contracts 



The Battlefield of Creeds 103 

or take any important step without the consent of parent or 
guardian, it gives every child of fourteen the right to decide 
which religion it shall follow, even against the wishes of the 
parents. It seems rather anomalous that such an important 
step, which should be preceded by ripe thought, should be 
left to the decision of an infant. It would seem preferable 
to extend the age of confirmation — which, as has been ex- 
plained, is virtually compulsory in Germany — to the attain- 
ment of the legal majority, meanwhile carrying out religious 
instruction during the child's schooldays on absolutely 
unsectarian lines. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE LETTER OF THE LAW 

The letter of the law is adhered to in Germany perhaps more 
than in any other country. 

theCode t0 ^ aw anc * no ^ e( l u ity> unless equity coincides 

with the law, is the fundamental principle 

underlying the judgments of all German courts, although 

considerable power is given to the judge by the Code to 

exercise his own personal conviction. 

The first question the judge asks himself is, " What does 
the Code say ? " For the law — criminal, civil and commercial 
— has been codified, and crimes and illegalities, with their 
respective punishments, are laid down in black and white with 
absolute precision, but giving a maximum and minimum 
within which the court must limit itself. 

All judgments must be written, giving the articles of the 
Code on which they are based, and in every 

Tudp-ment case ^ ne P ar ^ es nay e the right to appeal. 

It must be understood that in all criminal 
cases the State is a party, for, according to German law, not 
only does a person by an illegal act injure the person who has 
been affected by that act, but also at the same time the State 
itself, and therefore the State, in the person of the representa- 
tive of the Minister of Justice, appears as complainant, con- 
ducts the case, and demands punishment of the offence. Only 
rarely, and then in simple cases of insult and assault, may a 
private person prosecute alone. 

The Criminal Code has existed in its main lines since the 
foundation of the Empire in 1871, although since that year 
many amendments have been added. Only offences which 
are included in the Code are regarded as punishable. Offences 
against the custom of a certain district are not recognised as 
unlawful. 

104 



The Letter of the Law 105 

The Criminal Code divides offences into three classes. The 
first of these, which comprises crimes of commission such as 
violence and fraud, entails penalties ranging 
Code 1 from five years' hard labour in a convict 

prison to death, and involves trial before a 
jury. The second includes smaller objective felonies and 
crimes of omission and involves fines over £7 10s. or imprison- 
ment up to five years by the judges of a criminal court. The 
third deals with small misdemeanours, punishable by fine up 
to £7 10s. or imprisonment for a short term by a police 
court. 

There is a large number of courts with differing jurisdictions. 

Police officers, in the first case, have the right to inflict fines 

definitely stated in the police orders for certain 

Courts minor misdemeanours. The parties in such 

a case, however, have the right to ask to be 

sent before the Amtsgericht, or court of first instance. These 

courts, of which there are 1,944, try petty criminal cases and 

civil cases involving sums up to £15. They are presided over 

by a professional judge, who may call in two lay assessors to 

assist him. 

The Schoffengericht (with a bench consisting of three pro- 
fessional judges and two laymen, something like grand jury- 
men) has jurisdiction in criminal cases with power to inflict 
imprisonment up to three months and in civil cases involving 
sums up to £30. 

Then follows the Landgericht (a provincial or county court), 
of which there are 176, composed usually of three judges in 
civil cases and five in criminal cases, which hears appeals from 
the Amtsgericht and also possesses original jurisdiction in 
more important civil and criminal cases and in divorce suits. 

A further step is the Oberlandgericht (superior provincial 
court), with seven judges, who hear further appeals and also 
try serious civil and criminal cases. 

The Schwurgericht (a court of assizes with three professional 
judges and a jury) tries cases of felony. 



106 Germany of the Germans 

Above all of these is the Imperial Supreme Court, which tries 
treason cases, and to which a final appeal in any case may go 
and whose decision cannot be reversed. In Bavaria, however, 
there is a Supreme Provincial Court, which possesses virtually 
the same powers as the Imperial Supreme Court. 

There are altogether 9,686 judges. According to the latest 

statistics, which relate to 1907, these sentenced in that year 

^, . . 530,120 persons for crimes, misdemeanours 

The Judges. , ' - . , r _, 

and all kinds of offences. 

In every department of justice there has of late years been 
a remarkable increase of work, so that, despite the large force 
of judges, there is always considerable delay. This is natu- 
rally increased by the intervention in nearly all cases of the 
State as prosecutor. 

As soon as a criminal case is started, all the documents 

are placed in the hands of the Crown counsel, who opens 

an investigation. He has at his disposal all 

CourTel ^ e P once an d legal authorities of the Empire. 

On the result of his inquiry depends whether 

the charge shall be carried into court or allowed to lapse for 

lack of proof. Should the case go into court, the Crown 

counsel watches the action until the end, and in most cases 

calls for judgment, suggesting to the judge the sentence he 

thinks is called for. 

It is customary to consider an accused person as guilty until 
he proves himself innocent, and this gives rise to a great 
amount of criticism, for it has happened 
Innocence 6 frequently that an innocent person has been 
detained many months on suspicion of an 
offence which he has not committed. The preliminary inves- 
tigation of a crime often lasts nine or ten months, and it is a 
great hardship on the accused to be detained so long if there 
is no direct proof of his guilt and he himself is not in a position 
to bring evidence of his innocence. 

It must be added, however, that in most cases an accused 
person is set free while awaiting trial, unless the crime is a 



The Letter of the Law 107 

serious one and circumstantial evidence is very strong, or 
the authorities suspect the accused of the intention of fleeing 
from justice. Persons without a domicile, those refusing 
information about themselves, foreigners, and people who 
are suspected of attempting to destroy evidence or to suborn 
witnesses are all liable to detention under the Code while 
awaiting trial. 

Among advocates there is a very strong feeling against 
the provisions of the Criminal Code which limit the right of 
the counsel for an accused person to examine the evidence 
which is to be brought against the prisoner before he comes 
into court. Permission for him to do this depends on the 
decision of the Crown prosecutor, who is of course conducting 
the case against the accused. The defending barrister is also 
much hindered in his work by the rule that he may only see 
his client in the presence of a court official. 

When an accused person is unable to employ an advocate, 
one is appointed by the court to assist him in his defence. 
Counsel for the defence in criminal cases is 
entitled to a fee of 12s. in the courts of first 
instance, 20s. in those of second instance, and £2 in the 
higher courts ; while the court fees in criminal cases involving 
a fine of from Is. to 20s. or imprisonment from one to ten days 
amount to 5s., increasing gradually until they attain in a case 
involving £150 fine or three to ten years' imprisonment, £9. 

Equality before the law, without regard to social standing, 
is naturally the foundation of the German as of other codes. 
In practice, however, it has been found that systematic 
equality is impossible, and many exceptions are made, so 
that judgments vary considerably. A wealthy offender, for 
example, if fined for a misdemeanour at the same rate as a 
poor man would be for a similar offence, does not in fact 
suffer so much ; while a man of superior education, sentenced 
to a strictly laid down term of detention for a crime which he 
has committed, suffers considerably more than a tramp used 
to hardships would do if committed to prison for a similar 



108 Germany of the Germans 

term for the same offence. In the same way, a prominent 
public man brought into court for a crime endures a more 
considerable amount of suffering owing to the publicity of 
the case than does an unknown criminal. 

All these individual differences are taken into consideration 
by the tribunals and, in spite of the outcry among unthinking 
people for the unwavering application of the 
In Camera same pains and penalties to all, German 
judges are permitted to grant ameliorating 
conditions to prisoners when they consider such pro- 
cedure advisable, and, as a consequence, many cases are 
decided in camera. This is more especially so when the 
Minister of Justice is of opinion that public reports of a case 
would affect injuriously public morals, and for this reason 
all divorce cases are heard in private and long reports of 
shameful evidence connected with such cases are unknown. 
Only the verdict of the court is compulsorily delivered in 
public. 

The old-fashioned idea of measuring the severity of the 
punishment according to the seriousness of the crime appears 
to be gradually outliving itself and to be giving 
place to more humane considerations. More 
stress is laid on the individuality of the offender and the 
causes that led to his crime. It has been proved by lengthy 
experience among prisoners that a man who has committed 
a single crime, perhaps a serious one, through thoughtlessness 
is often turned into a chronic criminal if sentenced to a long 
term of imprisonment, which seems to embitter him against 
society instead of bringing about repentance. 

The terms of the Criminal Code permit the probationary 
release of well-behaved convicts after they have served 
three-quarters of their sentences, or at least one year, but this 
is not a right. They may be forced to serve the whole of their 
unexpired term if, during their probation, they relapse into 
crime. Statistics show that of the number released on 
probation only about 2 per cent, relapse. 



The Letter of the Law 109 

There is a movement on foot to empower judges to deliver 

sentences mentioning a minimum and a maximum term, so 

that if the prisoner shows signs of reform he 

Minimum and should be released on the expiration of the 
Maximum . . , . . ., . * . . 

Sentences. minimum, but m the case of a chronic criminal 

he should be detained for the maximum term. 

The law affecting first offenders, which has been in force 
since 1895 in every State except Mecklenburg-Strelitz and 
the two Reusses — even there the rulers have the right to apply 
it — has been of great benefit. According to the last statistical 
returns, during the year 1908 no fewer than 28,004 persons 
profited by a conditional release from serving terms of 
imprisonment, which in most cases led to an entire release 
from punishment. In Bavaria conditional release is granted 
in no less than 64 per cent, of criminal cases, and in 
Prussia in 31 per cent. Of the persons thus conditionally 
released over 80 per cent, are never called on to go to 
prison. 

One of the great problems in Germany, as in other countries, 
is how to employ prisoners without injury to free and honest 
workers. There are on an average 60,000 
Labour able-bodied prisoners in German prisons. In 
most cases, they are kept in absolute solitary 
confinement in well-aired, roomy cells, where they work at 
some trade — carpentry, typesetting, shoemaking, book- 
binding, tailoring. The name of the prisoner is printed on 
the inside of the cell-door, with the length of sentence and the 
date of liberation. On the outside of the door is the prisoner's 
number and occupation. A prisoner remains absolutely 
unknown to his fellows. 

Prisoners earn a certain amount of money by their work, 
of which they are permitted to spend a portion on extra food. 
This usually takes the form of butter and dripping, as fat is 
entirely lacking from the prison food. 

Letters are permitted to be received and written, under 
control, at stated intervals. 



110 Germany of the Germans 

The system of solitary confinement has a remarkable effect 

on the intellect of the prisoner. At the conclusion of his term, 

if long, everything outside is strange to 

C nfinement ^ m * He has not been allowed newspapers 
and the magazines given him, if he conducts 
himself properly, are of the dull religious character. 

School is held and prisoners taught in classes according to 
their previous knowledge or ignorance. They do not see each 
other in school or church, where, however, they can all be seen 
by the teacher or clergyman as they sit in their boxes around 
a semicircle. 

Corporal punishment and withdrawal of warm rations 
are often inflicted for petty offences committed by the 
convicts. The regulations are most strict, and are carried 
out by old non-commissioned officers of the Army, who have 
become warders generally after nine or twelve years' service. 
The governor is usually a retired officer. 

Prisons for women, in the opinion of persons who have made 

a study of the subject, leave much to be desired. Although 

the principle of solitary confinement is sup- 

Pr' 1 ^ 611 S posed to have been adopted, in many of the 

prisons not sufficient cells are provided to 

permit of each prisoner being separated from the others, and 

thus first offenders are often allowed to come into contact with 

old offenders, to the great danger of transforming the 

accidental criminal into a confirmed criminal. 

The procedure in civil cases is very simple and inexpensive, 
and the Imperial Civil Code, which has been in force in its 
present form since 1900, is a model of precision. 
It contains over 2,000 paragraphs, but does 
not as yet cover every branch of litigation. The 
simplicity and cheapness are perhaps responsible for the 
enormous amount of litigation and the consequent over- 
burdening of the courts, with its accompanying delay. A 
point which is open to abuse is the facility of appeal, which 
may be claimed as a right by any litigant, and thus trivial 



The Letter of the Law 111 

cases are often carried from one court to another until one 
of the litigants is worn out. This is especially unfortunate 
for the poorer classes, although, according to the Code, a 
person unable to support the expense of a suit may claim to 
have an advocate appointed by the Courts to watch his 
interests. 

It must be admitted that the courts themselves, in spite of 
the enormous amount of work they have to do, are seldom 
responsible for delays in litigation, except 
L*t t" m * n ^ e su P er i° r tribunals. The chief cause of 
delay arises from the fact that the advocates 
practise in all kinds of courts and rarely specialise. They are 
thus often pleading in one court when another case in which 
they are engaged in a different court is called. As the parties 
are compelled to have counsel, and may not plead their own 
cases in his absence, the judge has to set the case back in 
the list. The court may refuse adjournment of a case if the 
opposing counsel is present and raises an objection. Judg- 
ment is then entered against the absentee ; but this means 
only that an appeal is entered for a new trial, with the addi- 
tional expense of a fresh hearing fee. The advocate gains 
no pecuniary benefit in such an event, the costs being fixed 
by law. 

An idea of the extreme moderation of the costs connected 

with litigation may be gathered from the figures of the court 

fees. In a civil suit involving an amount not 

M Costs tC exceeding £1, the court fee is only Is. ; if 

£45 to £60 is in dispute, it amounts to £l 18s. ; 

for £500 it is £5, and so on, increasing 10s. for every further 

£100. 

The advocate is permitted to charge, in a civil suit in a court 
of first or second instance involving up to £1, the sum of 2s. 
for entering the action, 2s. for the hearing, 2s. for composition 
of the dispute out of court, and Is. for securing evidence. 
Should a composition be brought about, the fee for entering 
the action is only Is. These fees are slightly higher in the 



112 Germany of the Germans 

superior appeal courts if the action should proceed so far. 
In a case involving £10 to £15, the fees amount to 10s. for 
entry, 10s. for the hearing, 10s. for composition, and 5s. 
for securing evidence, and in a suit involving £410 to 
£500, they are £3 4s. for entry, £3 4s. for the hearing, £3 4s. 
for a composition, and £1 17s. for securing evidence. 
Then on to £2,500 they rise by 4s. in each stage for every 
£100. 

The payment of witnesses in criminal cases for loss of time 

in attending court is under the control of the Ministry of 

Justice and is generally regarded as insum- 

Witnesses cient. Many people, such as shopkeepers, 

Compensation. j sr sr * r r > 

hotel-keepers and commercial men employing 

assistants or clerks, are not entitled to payment, as it is 

considered that their business does not suffer by their absence. 

Even in cases where payment for lost time is granted the 

amount is very small, in no case exceeding Is. an hour or 

10s. a day, but this is given only in extremely rare instances. 

As to the costs incurred by a witness in order to reach the 

court, these are estimated on a very low scale, never exceeding 

about a penny a mile, while a labourer would be given only 

a halfpenny a mile unless he was compelled to come from a 

distance of over eight miles. He would also, if he were 

compelled to remain in attendance a whole day, receive only 

Is. to pay for his meals. 

The procedure in the civil courts appears to be somewhat 

arbitrary. Tangible proof must be brought by both parties 

as to the truth of their statements. An oath, 

p * however, is taken as proof, and for this reason 

it often happens that a party to a dispute 

who has no tangible proof of his claim cedes his interest to 

a third person, who appears as plaintiff or defendant, as the 

case may be, and the original party is then sworn as a witness, 

thus establishing what is regarded as legal proof. 

Appeals, as has been said, are permissible in all cases, and 
this is the reason for the judgment always being a written one, 



The Letter of the Law 113 

noting all the law points involved. The judge usually informs 
the parties where and within what time limit the appeal must 
be entered. 

In bankruptcy cases, when a man has been declared bank- 
rupt he can make no further payments from his estate, which 
is then placed in the hands of the receiver 

Ban c^s U es! Cy for the benefit of the creditors. Payments 
that have been made even before the bank- 
ruptcy has been declared can also be demanded back by the 
receiver and thrown into the estate. The period to which 
the receiver can go back is not defined, but it is designated 
as the time when the debtor was still solvent. The debtor 
is often made to swear to the best of his knowledge, supported 
by as much proof as he can find, when he considered himself 
to be last solvent. 

Another point which is very unsatisfactory in the common 
law is the right of a person to sell his property, as a precaution, 
to a creditor. Another person may come along and give him 
further credit and then find to his astonishment that the 
property which he has regarded as a guarantee for the 
solidity of his debtor does not belong to him at all. But 
should it be proved that the property has been sold so 
as to injure the prospects of other creditors, the sale does 
not hold good. 

One remarkable feature of the bankruptcy law consists in 

the fact that a creditor cannot enter proceedings in bankruptcy 

against his debtor unless the latter possesses 

AnonSr sufficient property to pay the costs of the 

proceedings or the creditor himself guarantees 

the costs with a sum of at least £25. If the creditor cannot, 

or will not, do this, the proceedings drop and a fraudulent 

debtor can go on making further debts. What is demanded 

by commercial and other circles is that proceedings should be 

permitted to be started without any guarantee as to costs, 

so that the books of the debtor can be examined and a stop 

put to any further debt-making. 

8— (2391) 



114 Germany of the Germans 

The appointments of judges are made by the head of the 

State through the Minister of Justice. Every candidate must 

have studied law for three and a half years, 

Judges' during eighteen months of which he must 

pp0] have been a student at a university, and have 

thereafter passed a severe examination. He is then admitted 

to the courts or into the Attorney-General's department for 

a further three and a half years' preparatory service as judge, 

during which time, however, he is not permitted to deliver 

judgments. Then comes a second and final examination, 

the passing of which entitles him to the office of judge in any 

of the States of the Empire. Usually, a newly-appointed 

judge acts as assistant judge for a considerable time before 

final appointment to a court. 

The salaries of the judges, considered from the standpoint 
of other countries, are strikingly low, ranging from as little 
as £150 up to only £1,000, which is the amount received by 
the President of the highest court. 

Many of the judges in the commercial courts hold honorary 
positions, and are not possessed of legal education ; but they 
are always engaged in suits where expert knowledge is neces- 
sary and they sit with a professional judge. They are 
appointed for three years on the recommendation of the 
Chamber of Commerce of the district in which they serve. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ABOUT THE POOR 

The problem of the poor, although in some degree made 

easier in Germany by the compulsory insurance system, is 

still a very difficult and costly one. [yj ■ 

A Costly Poor-houses, such as exist in Great Britain, 

Problem. . ' ' 

are unknown in Germany. 

Outdoor relief with supervision is the principle in general 
adopted, the underlying idea being that in this way the poor 
are helped to help themselves without becoming pauperised. 

In the administration of the Poor Law no insuperable 
difficulty is found in dealing with the aged, the totally infirm, 
the sick and the orphans. Support has to be given to them 
and the public does its duty. The real difficulty begins with 
the willing healthy unemployed workmen for whom no place 
is available. Then there are the lazy and weak-minded, but 
otherwise healthy, people. Finally, come the semi-invalids 
and bodily weak, whom no one will employ. 

It has been suggested that the municipalities should start 

factories in which these classes of the poor should be employed, 

in the same way as in the country colonies 

Suggested f ^ wor ki ess> Proposals have been made 
Remedies. , , , ,.* , . , . 

that the poor should be engaged in making 

paper, ink and pens for the Administration, simple appli- 
ances for cripples and for the hospitals and lunatic asylums, 
and toys for the amusement of the orphans in the schools. 
The poor people would not be boarded or lodged in the factories, 
and would only be called on to do just what they were capable 
of doing, and at any time be allowed to go and seek other 
work if a definite chance was open. 

The method of caring for the deserving poor in Germany 
has often been described, but will bear brief recapitulation. 

115 



116 Germany of the Germans 

The Elberfeld system of poor relief, which has been widely 

adopted by the city municipalities and country parishes 

of Germany, has obtained a world-wide 

The Elberfeld renown j^g fundamental ideas of the system 
System. ... . . 

are individualisation and decentralisation. 

The municipality or parish is divided into small districts, 
each of which is again subdivided into divisions. In each 
district an honorary chairman of guardians is selected, and 
in each subdivision a poors' visitor or guardian to investigate 
cases, the subdivisional guardians being under the control 
of the chairman. 

The chairman of guardians receives as a rule £1 5s. monthly 
in return for the use of a room as district poor office, where 
the poor must apply at certain hours for relief. 

The sub-divisions are made so small that each guardian 
has only two, or at the most four cases of poverty to look 
after, and, as he is always placed in charge of a district near 
to his residence, he gets to know personally all the poor people 
in the vicinity. 

The committee of guardians meets every fourteen days 

or month, when the result of the investigations is reported. 

The chairmen of all the districts meet from 

Committees of ^ ^ time, under the presidency of the 
Guardians. r . . 

mayor or chief official of the municipality 

or country district, and at this meeting they give their reports 

and resolve on further action in case it is necessary to place 

the poor people under their supervision in a public institution. 

In some cities slight modifications have been introduced 
into the system, whereby the district committee may, on its 
own initiative, extend the duration of the assistance given. 
In some cases, paid officials are appointed to superintend the 
relief of permanent paupers. 

The guardian is in all cases empowered to give immediate 
relief when he finds it necessary, but not for longer than 
fourteen days. He remains in constant touch with the needy 
and gives them advice as to where to seek work if unemployed. 



About the Poor 117 

This advice is not offered as a rule in a bureaucratic spirit, 
but in a kindly, helpful way. 

Women have hitherto not been permitted to participate 

largely in the work of poor relief, but a change has recently 

come about in some districts, and 4,000 

Woman s women are now members of guardians' 

committees. 

In some cases, such as Berlin, Hamburg and other big 

cities, it has been found advisable to appoint boards of 

guardians. The needy have then to apply to the chairman, 

who appoints one of the guardians to investigate. This 

system has been found to work well. 

The guardians, as a rule, pursue their investigations 
with the utmost tact, and very often the neighbours 
do not know that a needy family is in receipt of public 
assistance. 

The help given to the poor consists in money, food, clothing, 
free medicines, and on the parish doctor's advice good nourish- 
ment, while in the case of the unemployed 
H 1 G' destitute, tools, sewing machines, mangles, 

or railway fare to places where work is 
offered are provided. In many instances, the assistance is 
given in the shape of a loan, and thus those receiving aid 
avoid the loss of civil rights which is incurred by persons 
entirely dependent on public support. Sick relief, the 
admission of a member of a family free of cost into an 
asylum or other institution, help given to an orphan in 
learning a trade, and temporary relief in general are not 
regarded as poor law aid incurring the deprivation of civil 
rights. 

In the rural unions a somewhat similar system to that of the 
cities is adopted. The effort is made to distribute the burden 
of poverty as widely as possible and not drive the poor into 
the towns and industrial centres. Each municipality or union 
must, whether the person affected is domiciled in the locality 
or not, provide for the deserving needy who apply. 



118 Germany of the Germans 

In addition to the general system of assisting the resident 
poor, there are also public institutions spread all over the 
country wherein men wandering from one 
Wandering pi ace to another in search of work may 
obtain food and lodging on condition that 
they fulfil a modest task before continuing on their way. 
These may, in many respects, be compared to casual wards. 
The men have to be provided with an official certificate, in 
which the route is indicated which they are to follow, and this 
must be stamped at each halting place. When the men, 
who are usually honest workers looking for employment, are 
worn out with fruitless wandering, they may apply and be 
admitted to one of the work colonies in the country districts. 
There are thirty-four of these colonies, capable of accom- 
modating 5,000 persons. The original founder of the colonies, 
. which are mostly private enterprises subsi- 
dised by the State and the municipalities, 
was the Emperor Frederick, when he was Crown Prince. He 
gave them a considerable endowment, which has, however, 
proved insufficient for their entire maintenance. Entry is 
entirely voluntary, and both men and women are eligible. 
Every applicant must produce his or her last rent receipt, 
a police registration form, a reference from the last situation 
and a stamped certificate entitling the holder to wander over 
the country in search of work. Over 200,000 of the poor 
unemployed of both sexes have utilised these colonies, but it 
is found that the skilled artisan objects to give up his trade 
and settle down to the entirely new occupation of an agricul- 
tural labourer, although opportunities are offered him to 
acquire his own piece of land from his own savings out of his 
earnings in the colony. In some instances, these colonies 
form entirely new villages and every effort is made to improve 
the economic condition of the colonists and increase their 
capacity to earn money. The governors are really foremen, 
who teach the colonists various kinds of agricultural 
work. 



About the Poor 119 

The average duration of the colonists' stay is three months. 
An inmate who shirks the work is promptly ejected and handed 
over to the police as a vagabond. Anyone who is weak and 
unfit for hard work is given light tasks and may stay as long 
as he or she cares to. Before the institution of these colonies 
the houses of correction for tramps and vagrants contained 
over 30,000 tramps. Now their inmates number only 5,000 
in the whole Empire, of whom 1,400 are in the vicinity of 
Berlin. Some of the houses of correction have consequently 
recently been closed. 

Night shelters are also provided in several large towns, 

many of them being the result of the efforts of private societies. 

There the users do not need to legitimise them- 

Shit selves. Everyone is welcome and receives a 

bath, has his clothing disinfected and may 

sleep and take a free breakfast before leaving. 

In the municipal night shelters in Berlin, where 4,000 
homeless men take refuge every night in winter, the system 
has recently been introduced of enforcing inmates to do two 
or three hours' work in return for their lodging and bowl of 
soup with bread. This has had the effect of driving large 
numbers of confirmed tramps to seek other refuges either in 
private night shelters or wherever they can find a place to 
creep into. Despite this the Berlin municipal night shelters, 
during the last financial year, from April 1, 1908, to March 31, 
1909, admitted 866,300 persons, or an average right through 
the year of 2,373 homeless people nightly. 

Orphans and foundlings are well looked after, both the system 
of institution and distribution among families being in vogue. 
The latter is more general, a small amount being paid by the 
authorities for their keep. The persons in charge are kept 
under control, so that the children are not ill-treated or 
exploited, women taking a great part in the control. 

The group, or family, system has also been adopted — a 
workman and his wife being given a free house in the country 
on condition that they bring up from 6-12 orphans, the boys 



120 Germany of the Germans 

to learn the man's trade, the girls household work. A small 
amount per head is also paid. This has the advantage of 
giving the children the benefit of family life. 

Among other institutions for the assistance of the poor are 

the popular kitchens, where food is provided to both children 

and grown-ups. Where the latter can pay, 

K"t P h ^ey are asked for a small sum. Tramway 

workers, scavengers and other labourers may 

often be seen taking a meal in these kitchens. They are 

under the control of private societies, in the same way as the 

breakfasts to hungry school children, but the municipalities 

subsidize them. 

Poors' doctors are appointed in most districts. They are 
given a small salary by the municipality on condition that 
they set aside certain hours when poor sick people may visit 
them. They have also to visit the poor in their houses when 
necessary. In country districts several parishes join together 
and pay for one doctor between them. 

Accident stations exist in every town, where first help is 
rendered to victims of accidents, who are then taken to 
hospital or sent home. 

Dispensaries for the poor are also erected at the municipal 
expense. In university cities these serve as instructional 

centres for students. 
Dispensaries and Th hospitals are aU controlled by the 
Hospitals. ..,.,* ., , i • i • 

municipalities, and a charge, which is 

graduated according to the circumstances of the individual 
patient, is made for attendance. Poor persons unable to pay 
are admitted and receive medicine and surgical attendance 
at the charge of the municipality. Any person, however, is 
entitled to admittance to the hospital of the district in which 
he resides on payment of a minimum sum of 3s. per day, 
which includes medical attention, board and lodging. 

2286 people on an average are in the Berlin hospitals at 
the city's expense. The number of beds available is over 
3,000. The yearly cost to the city is £56,600. 



About the Poor 121 

Whereas formerly natives of one German State when 
resident in another were considered for the purposes of the 

Poor Law as foreigners and immediately 
Domicile ex P eue( i on becoming paupers, the law now 

says that every German, from whatever 
State of the Empire he comes, must be considered a native 
wherever he is in the Empire and be given assistance, 
which must afterwards be recovered from the authorities of 
his fixed domicile. 

Germany surfers just as other lands do in having most of 
the poor in great cities and industrial centres, many of them 
drawn thither by the indiscriminate charity of well-meaning 
but foolish people. 

Professional paupers certainly exist, but they are restricted 
to a very small class by means of the excellent regulation 

compelling private charitable institutions to 
^Paimers 1 ^ subm i t a11 applications for assistance to the 

central body having charge of the distribu- 
tion of official poor relief in each district. An applicant for 
assistance who endeavours to obtain pecuniary or other aid 
from a number of institutions in the same district is soon 
found out and, as his or her name is also communicated to 
other districts by the authorities, it is very rare that he or she 
succeeds in living systematically on the gifts of well-disposed 
people. Of course, the most ingenious of these pests of 
modern society manage by confining their operations to private 
persons, instead of applying to societies, to prey for a length 
of time on charity, but they are usually found out in the long 
run. 

The race of " nevers," who will not work without compul- 
sion, receives little encouragement. Woe be to them if they 
Th u N , , fall into the hands of the authorities, for they 

are first punished by a term of imprisonment 
and then relegated to the houses of correction, or work houses, 
as they are called in Germany, and detained for a period of 
two to five years. The regime in these " work houses " is 



122 Germany of the Germans 

very strict. They are virtually prisons, as the inmates may 
not take their discharge. Even when allowed to leave after 
a long term of detention, they may be sent back to their place 
of domicile and forbidden to leave under pain of relegation. 
Professional beggars, drunkards and prostitutes, as well as 
persons who, owing to vice, place those dependent on them 
in such a position as to become a burden to the community, 
are all liable to this form of detention. In some cases, the 
deserving poor and homeless are admitted, but are under no 
compulsion to remain if they receive an offer of employment. 
Foreigners who become destitute are expelled from the 
country. 

It must be confessed that the accommodation and nourish- 
ment in both workers' colonies and work houses is very poor, 
and a movement is proceeding to introduce improvements in 
these respects. 

Complete statistics dealing with the entire outlay for poor 
relief throughout Germany have not been issued for twenty 
years. The labour of compiling the returns 
from the great rural districts is enormous, 
and the central department is overburdened with so much 
administrative work that officials cannot be spared for the 
task. A fairly accurate official estimate of the outlay on the 
poor, the sick and the orphans in urban and rural districts 
containing over 10,000 inhabitants in the course of the year 
1905 showed that £7,535,505 had been disbursed for these 
purposes. This total leaves entirely out of account the 
many hundreds of districts comprising fewer than 10,000 
inhabitants. 

Figures for 1907 are, however, available for the forty-one 

cities containing over 100,000 inhabitants. The following 

table gives a clear view of the cost involved. 

CT * n some cases > remarks are made in the last 

column indicating that the returns do not 

include all the outlay : 



About the Poor 



123 



City 


Population 
1907 


Expenditure 

on Poor in 

£ 


Expenditure 

per head 

of Popula- 








tion 

In Shillings 
s. d. 












Berlin . 


2,096,300 


674,419 


6 5| 


Excluding hospitals 


Hamburg . 


844,480 


317,846 


7 6* 




Miinchen 


552,000 


129,002 


4 8£ 




Dresden 


531,000 


134,712 


5 1 




Leipzig . 


518,700 


187,338 


7 2| 




Breslau . 


486,000 


84,788 


3 6 


Excluding cost of 
medicine 


Koln . . . 


450,890 


72,573 


3 2f 


Excluding hospitals 


Frankfurt a. M. 


350,300 


115,789 


6 71 




Nurnberg . 


307,700 


53,307 


3 5* 


Orphan asylums 
excluded 


Chemnitz . 


263,000 


41,693 


3 2 




Diisseldorf . 


262,300 


74,789 


5 81 




Stuttgart . 


261,060 


74,133 


5 8£ 




Hanover 


257,750 


55,738 


4 4 




Charlottenburg 


257,300 


75,508 


5 lOf 




Magdeburg 


245,340 


55,902 


4 7 


Excluding hospitals 


Essen a. Ruhr . 


244,680 


44,982 


3 8± 




Stettin . 


232,830 


41,831 


3 7£ 


»> >> 


Konigsberg 


230,610 


53,271 


4 1\ 




Bremen 


223,520 


62,534 


5 7i 




Duisburg 


207,460 


35,494 


3 5 




Dortmund . 


192,580 


32,837 


3 5 




Rixdorf 


186,960 


14,509 


2 1 




Halle . . . 


175,870 


36,383 


4 If 




Kiel . . . 


173,460 


53,886 


6 2f 




Mannheim . 


173,270 


45,975 


5 4 




Strassburg . 


172,880 


26,958 


3 \\ 


Incomplete 


Altona . 


171,890 


38,316 


4 8 




Elberfeld . . 


166,520 


40,123 


4 9f 




Danzig . 


165,160 


59,959 


7 31 




Barmen 


159,100 


26,873 


3 41 




Schoneberg 


155,970 


18,779 


2 5 




Gelsenkirchen . 


154,430 


16,697 


2 2 




Aachen 


152,210 


45,120 


5 111 




Cassel . 


148,740 


26,767 


2 11 




Posen 


146,020 


32,563 


4 51 




Braunschweig . 


138,620 


25,754 


3 8f 




Bochum 


127,900 


19,363 


3 




Karlsruhe . 


122,110 


15,558 


2 6-| 




Krefeld . . . 


114,040 


24,077 


4 2f 




Wiesbaden . 


104,510 


19,221 


3 8 




Erfurt . 


102,840 


15,569 


3 


Hospital excluded 



124 Germany of the Germans 

In the city of Berlin in January, 1909, 34,219 persons 
received poor relief. Besides these, grants were made to 
widowed mothers in 12,414 cases for the sup- 
port of their children. 9,445 other persons 
received special temporary aid. 2,179 persons were arrested 
for begging. 1 15, 199 persons sought shelter in public shelters, 
while private shelters received 23,862. Of all these homeless 
only 853 were handed over to the police as confirmed vagrants, 
as they had made use of the shelters more than from 3-5 
nights, which is the maximum permitted. 

Almshouses for the old people unable to care for themselves 
are provided in the suburbs, and they live there instead of 
taking outdoor relief. The almshouse connected with the 
Berlin municipality is situated at Buch, a delightfully healthy 
suburb. There accommodation is provided for 1,500 old 
people of both sexes. Near by are situated other municipal 
institutions, including an asylum for the insane with 1,800 
beds, and a sanatorium for consumptives with 150 beds. 

The principles of the operation of the German poor law 
may be summed up as follows : 

1 . Very poor districts are carefully watched 
Principled anc * *^ e State comes to their assistance in 
case of necessity. 

2. Poor law officials, most of whom are voluntary, are, 
with the resources placed at their disposal, kept under close 
control. 

3. The arrangement by law of the right to settle in a 
district, thus preventing the flow of the poor towards any 
one point. 

4. Official superintendence of private charities. 

5. Organisation of a system of loan institutions, which, by 
advancing monetary assistance to those struggling against 
their downfall, help the poor to re-establish themselves in 
independent positions and at the same time protect them 
against usurers. 



CHAPTER XIV 

A GENERATION AHEAD IN INSURANCE 

If the system of compulsory insurance under State control 
by working men to provide against sickness, accident, infirm- 
ity and old age is the correct method, then 
th ° d W f Id Germany is a quarter of a century in advance 
of all other nations in the world in this 
respect. 

Until now the system adopted, and being rapidly extended 
to include other classes of the population, has proved of 
enormous benefit in doing away with the hopeless poverty 
that at one time existed as widely in Germany as in other 
countries. 

The necessity for a system of compulsory workmen's 
insurance, to which employers also are forced to contribute, 
arose with the disappearance of the old class 
Necessax °* independent workmen through the intro- 
duction of the factory system controlled by 
capitalists. Formerly every skilled journeyman had the 
prospect of becoming a master and undertaking work on his 
own account. Since the invention of machinery these condi- 
tions have changed to such an extent that only an infinites- 
imal proportion of workers can possibly, owing to lack of 
capital, ever become anything beyond employees throughout 
their lives. 

It has been found that when a worker becomes incapacitated 
for further labour, he is practically thrown on his own resources, 
or on to public charity, as the factories in very few cases make 
voluntary provision for their decayed workmen, while the 
workmen themselves are in most cases either unable to save 

125 



126 Germany of the Germans 

sufficient to provide for their needs during sickness and 
infirmity, or else through thriftlessness neglect to do so. 

The workmen themselves recognised their shortcomings 

in this regard, and welcomed the proposal to introduce the 

scheme of sick insurance, which has proved 

W W°Tef by suc ^ a succcss * n Germany that many other 
countries are copying it. 

The infirmity and old-age insurance met with considerable 
disapproval at first, owing to the fact that workers, who are 
compelled to pay subscriptions from the age of sixteen, 
regarded it as very unlikely that they would ever reach the 
age of seventy, when the old-age pension is given them. 
However, since it has been found that the old-age clause 
is merely a set term when every insured person may uncon- 
ditionally claim a pension, whether disabled or not, while 
the vast majority, on account of infirmity, enter into the 
enjoyment of the pension at a much earlier age, the prejudice 
has died out. 

As a matter of fact, the number of infirmity pensioners 

(that is, pensioners who are granted pensions before the age 

limit of seventy is attained) from January 1st, 

PenskSs 1891 ' to March 31st ' 1909 ' reached 1,659,234, 
of whom 871,303 are still drawing their 
pensions. 

On the other hand, the number of purely old-age pensions 
granted in the same period was only 473,370, of which 107,064 
are still in force. 

There is another clause of the law under which temporary 
infirmity pensions are granted. This has only been in force 
since January 1st, 1900, but from that date until March 31st, 
1909, no fewer than 93,382 people have benefited by it, of 
whom 18,763 are still receiving their pensions. 

Grants were also made in 1,848,878 cases to women who 
had paid their dues regularly up till their marriage, and 
409,789 grants to widows and children of insured men deceased 
before they had claimed a pension. 



A Generation Ahead in Insurance 127 

Over £66,000,000 has been distributed in infirmity and old- 
age pensions since 1891. Of this amount £42,000,000 has 
been collected in weekly subscriptions from 

L ^ 1 ^ d ms employers and employed, and £24,000,000 
granted from Imperial funds. 

At the last return the number of persons insured under the 
infirmity and old-age pension law was given in round figures 
at 14,400,000, and the total sum in the hands of the 
administration was £70,205,000. 

This enormous amount has been raised by means of very 
small subscriptions, the insurable persons being divided into 
five classes : (1) those earning wages up to £17 10s. yearly ; 
(2) from £17 10s. to £27 10s. ; (3) from £27 10s. to £42 10s. ; 
(4) from £42 10s. to £57 10s. ; and (5) those earning more than 
£57 10s. annually. The weekly subscription hitherto payable 
by these classes respectively has amounted to ljd., 2|d., 3d., 
3|d., and 4Jd., of which the worker pays half and the employer 
half. The employer is responsible for the payments and 
usually deducts the subscription from his employee's wages. 

Workmen may pay into a higher class and thus have the 
right to a better pension. This causes some slight difficulty, 
owing to the employer having to pay half of the subscription ; 
but he must not refuse to do so, therefore the law permits him 
to stop the increased amount out of the insured person's wages. 

On April 1st, 1910, an extension of the infirmity and old- 
age insurance law is, it is hoped, to go into effect, providing 
for widows and children of deceased pen- 

E3 th enS L° n ° f s i° ners > wno have hitherto been deprived of 
support on the pensioner's death. This is to be 
effected by increasing the weekly subscriptions of the five 
classes to 2d., 3d., 3Jd., 4|d., and 5|d. respectively. 

The widow of a pensioner will thereafter receive a pension 
equal to three-tenths of that of her late husband, with allow- 
ances for children and an annual addition from State funds 
amounting to £2 10s. for the widow and £1 5s. for each child. 

The minimum infirmity pension, to be entitled to which at 



128 Germany of the Germans 

any age an insured person must have paid subscriptions for 
at least 200 weeks, amounts, according to the class, to £3 
annually in Class I ; £3 10s. in Class II ; £4 in Class III ; 
£4 10s. in Class IV ; £5 in Class V. To each of these pensions 
is added annually £2 10s., which comes from the Imperial 
funds, so that the minimum of Class I reaches £5 10s. ; Class II, 
£6 ; Class III, £6 10s. ; Class IV, £7 ; and Class V, £7 10s. 
Additions are, however, made, which increase in amount 
according to the number of weeks the insured person has 
paid his subscriptions. The average pension works out at 
£8 Is. 8d. annually. It can, however, attain to £22 10s. in the 
case of a person who has paid in to Class V for fifty years. 

Persons who are not compelled by law to insure themselves 
against infirmity and old age may voluntarily pay subscrip- 
tions to whichever class they choose, but 
CI y these persons must have paid in for at least 

500 weeks before becoming entitled to claim 
an infirmity pension. 

The amounts of the infirmity pensions obtainable by 
pensioners, their widows and orphans, of all classes under the 
new regulations about to go into force are set out clearly in 
the table on page 129. 

The authorities may decline to grant an infirmity pension 

to a claimant who, in their opinion, supported by that of 

_ M . medical experts, has himself brought about 

lixccptions. 

the infirmity. In such a case, part or whole 

of the pension may be awarded to the man's family. 

In instances in which the medical experts are of opinion 
that a claimant, by means of proper treatment, can be pre- 
vented from becoming a permanent invalid, power is given 
them to send him to an invalids' home, where every effort 
to effect a cure is made. Many absolutely infirm pensioners 
who have no one to care for them are also sent into these 
institutions instead of receiving the money. There are seven- 
teen of these homes for chronic invalids in existence, containing 
nearly 3,000 beds, and more are being constructed. The 



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130 Germany of the Germans 

administrative authorities also subsidise largely many con- 
valescent homes and consumption hospitals and it is calculated 
that a very considerable number of infirmity pensions are 
saved in consequence of the cures thus effected. 

Various additions have recently been made to the law, 
whereby the privileges of voluntary State insurance are 
extended to persons earning higher incomes than those in the 
compulsory schedule. 

The old-age pensions, as distinguished from infirmity 

pensions, need very little description. The same subscription 

includes both branches. Every insured person 

Old-Age attaining the age of seventy, even though able 

to work, is granted the pension to which his 

class entitles him. The fixed annual sums accorded to the 

various classes from the pension funds are : Class I, £3 ; 

Class II, £4 10s. ; Class III, £6 ; Class IV, £7 10s. ; and 

Class V, £9. To each of these sums is added £2 10s. from 

Imperial funds, bringing the totals up to £5 10s., £1, £8 10s., 

£10, and £11 10s. respectively. 

The only condition is that an insured person must have 
paid in for 1,200 weeks, but if he has joined after the age of 
forty then for every year he was older than forty when he 
joined forty weeks are deducted, so that a man who joins at 
fifty would only need to have paid in 1,200 less 400 weeks, 
that is, 800 weeks, and a man joining at sixty would only need 
to pay in 1,200 less 800 weeks, that is, 400 weeks. 

Should an insured man die before receiving a pension, his 
widow and children under fifteen years of age are entitled to 
receive from the funds in a lump sum the half of the amount 
that has been paid in. 

Compulsory sick insurance is imposed (1) on all persons 

working for wages on a weekly engagement, in shops, or as 

artisans or in any trade ; (2) in mines, in 

SkkT^uraSce. factories > steel and ironworks, on railways, 

canals or in harbours, in shipyards and in 

buildings ; (3) in the offices of barristers, solicitors and bailiffs, 



A Generation Ahead in Insurance 131 

in benefit societies, co-operative societies and insurance 
companies ; (4) in works where steam or other power is 
constantly in use ; (5) in the postal and telegraph services, 
and in the arsenals of the Army and Navy. 

Those persons coming under the third head, as well as 
foremen, managers and technicians, are only liable when 
their wage does not exceed 6s. 8d. per day or £100 a year. 
Chemists' assistants and apprentices are not liable, nor are 
ships' crews, for whom the owners are obliged to provide. 

Local authorities may extend the compulsion also to persons 
of all those categories whose engagement is for less than 
a week, and also to municipal employees, and to the relatives 
of an independent workman, to home workers, and to 
agricultural and forest labourers and overseers. 

New regulations have only recently come into force, 

extending the compulsory sickness insurance unconditionally 

to include all the following classes : agricul- 

Ra* 6 tural workers and foresters, artisans, casual 

labourers, apprentices, domestics, managers, 

foremen, technical assistants, shop assistants, chemists' 

assistants, theatrical employees, private teachers, home 

workers, sailors, canal boatmen. 

Assurances of workers against sickness in 1908 numbered 
12,942,000, or 81 per cent, of the working men of the Empire 
earning up to £100 a year. The fees paid in by workers and 
employers, who pay respectively two-thirds and one- third, 
amounted to nearly £15,600,000, or about £1 4s. per head. 
No less than £13,500,000 was paid out in sick benefit or for 
hospital treatment. The number who declared on the funds 
reached 4,956,388, who were sick altogether 97,148,780 days. 
The cost of administration was £834,645. 

The extension to other classes of workers is heartily 
welcomed by the nation in general. It is calculated that the 
new ordinance will increase the number of those insured 
against sickness by over 5,000,000 in the course of 1910, 
making the total in round figures 18,000,000. 



132 Germany of the Germans 

A change has also been introduced in the payments, whereby 
employers and employed are to pay equal amounts. 

There are more than 23,000 compulsory sick funds in the 
Empire. They are not all of the same kind and the subscrip- 
tions and benefits vary considerably. Some 
Payments and f t ne funds are organised by the municipal- 
Unequal, ities, others by rural district boards, by 
factories, in works, by trade-guilds or by 
voluntary unions of private persons. These latter unions are 
composed for the most part of people who are not compelled 
by the law to insure, but they are recognised by the Imperial 
authorities as fulfilling the conditions of the compulsory 
insurance law, and workmen coming under the legal liability 
are permitted to join them. The employer does not pay any 
part of the subscription in this case and some instances have 
been brought to light when employers have taken advantage 
of the existence of these societies to employ only workmen 
who belong to them, so that in this way the employers have 
escaped payment of their part of the cost. 

The conditions of entry into the varied kinds of sick fund 

are not always alike. In some instances an entrance fee 

amounting to six times the weekly subscrip- 

Conditions of ^ on j g imposed on new members, unless 
Membership. *, . . ' 

transferred from another fund ; m others a 

probation is required before a new member is entitled to draw 

sick pay ; while there are also some societies which demand 

a medical certificate proving that the candidate is in good 

health. 

The cost of management, too, is very unequal, as some of 
the funds comprise only as few as fifty members, while others 
have over 100,000. In the new regulations an effort has 
been made to equalise conditions by enforcing a rule that 
no fund may be started with less than 500 members. 

The subscription to a municipal or rural district sick fund 
(whose members are mostly workers employed in shops or 
factories where less than five hands are engaged) is usually 



A Generation Ahead in Insurance 133 

reckoned at the rate of 1£ to 2 per cent, of the ordinary work- 
man's wage of the district. Since January 1st, 1910, workman 
and employer each pays half of the subscription, viz., from 
2£d. to 3d. each per week, where the man's wage is 24s. 
weekly, and so on in proportion. 

The other funds usually charge higher subscriptions, ranging 

from 2 per cent, to as much as 4 per cent, of the ordinary 

workman's wage of the district. Thus, at the 

„ N , e ^ lower rate a workman earning 24s. weekly 

Regulations. ^ , , ,. , -» , i, v-i 

pays 3d. and his employer 3d. weekly, while 

at the higher rate they each pay 6d. weekly. In all cases 

the employer is responsible for seeing that his workmen pay 

their dues, and usually he deducts the sum weekly from their 

wages and gums the requisite stamps on the membership card. 

The stamps are issued by the postal and insurance authorities. 

Should the subscriptions, reckoned at 4 per cent, of the 
ordinary workman's wages, not be sufficient for the adminis- 
tration of the fund, a levy may be made on the employers of 
the district, but nothing further may be demanded of the 
workmen. 

The assistance to which an insured person is entitled during 

sickness consists of weekly monetary payments for six months, 

amounting to half of the usual workman's pay 

Sick T pa of the district, when this does not exceed 4s. 

per day. Medical attendance is provided, also 
free medicines, eye-glasses, trusses and other simple apparatus. 
An insured person may also be sent to the hospital by the 
fund, which pays the necessary cost of attendance there, but 
deducts part of it from the sum due to the insured man. 
The remainder of the money is handed to his family. 

Working women who are insured are entitled to sick pay 
for six to eight weeks during childbed, if they have belonged 
to the fund for the twelve months immediately preceding. 
This, however, does not apply in the case of municipal or rural 
district funds. 

Funeral money is also paid on a member's death. This 



134 Germany of the Germans 

amounts to twenty days' full working pay at the ruling rate 
of the district, but is not paid by municipal funds. 

In Karlsruhe since July 1st, 1909, there exists a motherhood 
insurance office for the benefit of working men's wives who 
do not go out to work and are not compelled to insure. The 
women pay 6d. monthly and are entitled to receive after 
a minimum of a year's membership a sum of 20s. to 40s. 
at the period of their confinement. The amount is regulated 
according to length of membership. As the subscriptions 
are estimated not to be high enough to cover the outlay, the 
municipal authorities give a subsidy. 

The most extensive form of insurance is that against work- 
men's accidents. For this the employers bear the entire cost. 
They are formed into trade associations 

Insunm ^ or ^ s P ur P ose an d eacn trade provides for 

its own casualties. 
Workers to the number of 20,207,438 were insured against 
accidents at the end of 1908. Of these in the course of the 
year 905,473 received compensation for injuries, while 80,508 
widows, 103,473 children and grandchildren, and 4,095 other 
dependent relatives of men killed received compensation. 
14,772 wives, 32,683 children and grandchildren, and 260 
dependent relatives of the assured received grants while their 
breadwinners were in hospital. 

The method of compensation is laid down very clearly. 

A workman or woman who has suffered from an accident 

first goes on to the ordinary sick fund for 

Compensation. twent y- six weeks, and receives during this 
period sick pay amounting to two-thirds of 
the wages, besides attendance. Thereafter, two-thirds of the 
regular wages he or she has been receiving must be paid 
by the employer during total disablement, or in case of 
partial disablement a proportion of the regular wages 
sufficient to make up for the amount the person is unable 
to earn. 

In case of death through accident of an insured person the 



A Generation Ahead in Insurance 135 

employer is compelled to defray all costs of burial and to pay 
a pension to his dependents. 

The Government has recently introduced new regulations 
which will tend to take a considerable amount of the work 
of arbitration in disputes off the central office in Berlin. 
About 800 district insurance offices are to be established, over 
which higher offices, numbering 125, will be formed to act 
as appeal courts, all to be superintended by the chief office. 
In all of these assessors representing in equal proportions 
employers and employed are to be engaged in the settlement 
of disputes. 

That the State should control every branch of insurance 

is argued on many sides. It is pointed out that the taxes 

paid for Army and Navy, for the administra- 

Compulsory Fire ^ion f j us tice, for police, for sanitation, etc., 

Suggested. are a ^ direct insurance premiums. Why not 
then place fire insurance also in the hands of 
the State ? The poor people are often the greatest sufferers 
by fire, for in many instances a fire which starts in an insured 
factory or works spreads to the surrounding uninsured poor 
people's dwellings, and where are they to look for reimburse- 
ment of the damage ? They must generally bear the whole 
brunt unless a charitable subscription is started for their 
benefit. It is pointed out that the insurance could be carried 
out so much cheaper by the State than by private competitive 
companies, as the State would not need to spend 50 percent., 
or at any rate the large sum now spent, on advertising, agents, 
duplicate officials and printing, and other things that run 
away with much of the money paid by the insured 
for premiums. 



CHAPTER XV 

THE PROBLEM OF THE UNEMPLOYED 

Hitherto fear of the stupendousness of the task has kept the 

Imperial authorities from drawing up a scheme of insurance 

against unemployment, although it is gener- 

A St T? s e k d0US all y reco § nised that the sub J ect is of tne 
greatest importance and must eventually be 

dealt with as a corollary to infirmity, old age, accident and 

sickness insurance. A move in this direction has been under 

contemplation for some time, as may be gathered from the 

fact that in the great towns the authorities undertake from 

time to time a census of the unemployed, their trades, etc. 

In this way an idea of the average number unemployed is 

being attained, which is necessary if any scheme of insurance 

against unemployment is to be started with hope of success. 

Periods when the workers suffer from unemployment are 
just as unavoidable as they are disagreeable under the preva- 
lent conditions in the great industrial centres 
Periodical an( ^ c j^ es f the world. At times of great 
prosperity people are attracted to these 
centres by the high wages offered and then, when a time of 
trade depression sets in, they are usually unable, owing to 
lack of funds, to leave and proceed elsewhere. 

The danger of repeated periods of slackness and unemploy- 
ment increases with the commercial growth of a nation. The 
people devote themselves more and more to industries and 
neglect agriculture, with the result that, when a period of 
industrial depression arrives, many people who have been 
thriftless suffer, not only because of their want of means, but 
because of their inability to turn to other kinds of labour. 
Under present conditions, loss of employment may occur to 
anybody, although as a matter of fact some workers rarely 
suffer from such an experience. 

136 



The Problem of the Unemployed 137 

In most cases the unskilled labourers are the first to suffer 

from depression in trade. Even under the best of conditions 

they do not earn sufficient to save enough to 

S l ff 1Sk M ed t carr y them on until another spell of prosperity 
sets in. The skilled worker, on the other 
hand, gains enough to permit him to provide for a rainy day, 
although he does not always do so. 

The workers who would obtain most benefit from insurance 
are thus the casual labourers, as owing to the uncertain 
and disconnected nature of their work their contributions 
would be very irregular and they would make most calls on 
the benefits. It is, however, principally this class which 
makes calls on the poor rates under present conditions, so 
that if they can only be compelled to contribute to an insurance 
fund when they are in work, which they now do not do, some 
good will have been effected. 

Although trades unions have effected much in this direction, 
the time has come, in the opinion of many leading states- 
men, when the question of insurance against 
State Must unemployment must be taken up by the State. 
The opinions as to the system to be adopted 
differ widely. In the first place, employers and employed 
cannot agree as to their respective participation in the pro- 
vision of the funds. Then the representatives of town and 
rural districts are divided as to the method to be adopted. 
Finally, the organised and unorganised workmen are at issue, 
owing to the fact that the former are more or less provided 
for by their unions, while the latter are in most cases unpro- 
tected and at the same time run more risk of being thrown 
out of employment, because they generally follow unskilled 
occupations in which work is often of a temporary nature. 

Governments and other public authorities recognise 
the great danger of recurring periods of depression, and 
are in many cases in favour of the principle of intro- 
ducing a compulsory system of insurance against their 
consequences. 



138 Germany of the Germans 

That unemployed workers, who have reached the end of 

their resources, should be compelled to become paupers, 

relying on public charity, is admitted to 

EnC NTedld ment be wron S- m y not then > {t is argued, en- 
courage the honest worker to make provision 
against such a possibility by introducing a system of com- 
pulsory thrift, so as to enable him to have in his time of need 
a source of support to which he can go without shame, as he 
himself has contributed to its existence. 

It would seem easy, with all the experience gained from 
the success of the sickness, old-age, accident and infirmity 
insurance systems, to work out a scheme to include the 
unemployed. 

There is, however, one very serious difficulty to be over- 
come — namely, the question of deciding whether a man is 
out of work because he is unwilling to work 

Difficult US or una ^ e to fi nc * employment. Can a man 
be said to be unwilling to work because he 
refuses work outside of his own trade, or because he is un- 
willing to remove to another district where work is offered 
him ? How can proof be obtained that a man is unemployed 
by his own fault, when, perhaps, he is really incapable of 
doing the work of a trade to which he has served a long 
apprenticeship ? Is a man insured against unemployment 
to be given out-of-work pay if he loses his berth through 
drunkenness ? In these cases, should it be decided to refuse 
him out-of-work pay, is he to be allowed to go on to the poor 
rates and thus entirely depend upon public support ? In 
that event it seems as though the ne'er-do-well is being better 
treated than the honest man. 

The fear that insurance would have a demoralising effect 

on the casual labouring class may be dismissed as in most 

cases groundless ; but the difficulty of control 

Gr Fears leSS st *^ rema i ns - Any system must bring with 

it a certain compulsion to accept work when 

offered. The question of compelling the employers to 



The Problem of the Unemployed 139 

contribute is much discussed, but it is generally admitted 
that they should bear part of the cost, as they derive 
benefit from an overplus of labour which they can utilise 
when their factories are busy and dispense with when 
they are slack. 

The question arises : " What can be done to help these 

unskilled labourers and thriftless artisans to tide over their 

time of distress without making them 

toftS? Papers?" 

Perhaps the results attained in some of those 
cities in Germany where schemes of various kinds of un- 
employment insurance have been and are being tried will 
throw some light on the subject. 

For instance, in Strassburg, all the twenty-nine trades 
unions existing in the town have joined the out-of-work 
scheme inaugurated by the municipality. Their total member- 
ship consists of 4,872. A small subscription is paid to the 
city by the trades unions for each member while in work. 
As a return for this the city undertakes to add 50 per cent. 
to the out-of-work benefit given by the union to its members, 
but in no case is more than Is. a day added by the city. At 
the same time, in connection with the scheme, there is a 
labour exchange, which puts the insured in communication 
with vacant places. Only workmen who have been in 
the city a year and who have lost their work through 
no fault of their own are entitled to the city out-of- 
work pay. A strict eye is kept upon the men, so that 
there is no shirking work when offered. For the unor- 
ganised workmen the city in winter starts relief works. 
The whole insurance scheme in 1908 cost the city only £175. 
Supplementary pay was given by the municipality to 443 
trades unionists, who received between them 4,989 days' 
benefit. 

Other smaller municipalities in the vicinity are following 
Strassburg's lead, and in Schiltigheim, Bischheim and Erlangen 
similarly successful results have been attained. 



140 Germany of the Germans 

The report of the Cologne voluntary municipal insurance 

fund against unemployment (which is run on entirely different 

lines and which has been in existence twelve 

A S^heml? ry y ears ) for the P eriod from A P ri1 ' 1908 ' until 
the end of March, 1909, is interesting. During 

the twelve months the number of insured reached 1,957, of 

whom 1,435 were skilled and 522 unskilled workers, mostly 

connected with the building trades. The men in order to 

benefit by out-of-work pay from the fund must pay in at least 

thirty-four weekly subscriptions during the twelve months — 

skilled workers paying 5Jd. and unskilled labourers 4Jd. a 

week. For this they are entitled to draw during the three 

winter months, December, January and February, 2s. a day 

for twenty days and Is. daily for a further twenty-eight days, 

but if suitable work is offered them by the central labour 

exchange they are obliged to take it. Last winter 1,433 

went on the fund for altogether 37,971 days, and they received 

61,934 M. (£3,096 14s.) ; 82*9 per cent, of the members went 

on. The city gives a subsidy of £1,000 a year. According to 

the views of the trades unionists, the scheme is not practical, 

because only men who are virtually certain to be out of 

work for a certain time in the year take the trouble to join. 

For several years a private scheme of unemployment 

insurance has been in operation in Leipzig and the surrounding 

district, under the auspices and control of 
Effortsf ^ e mun i c ip a l authorities. A society has 

been founded, to which all wage-earners who 
have lived a year in the city are eligible for membership at 
a rate of subscription varying according to the trade or calling 
with its greater or lesser stability of employment. The 
members are divided into four classes, the first paying 3f d., the 
second 4|d., the third 6d., and the fourth 7Jd. weekly 
subscription. After forty-two weeks' membership any mem- 
ber falling out of employment is entitled to out-of-work pay 
amounting to Is. 2Jd. daily for forty-two days in the course 
of a year. 



The Problem of the Unemployed 141 

Mayence has also tried municipally directed out-of-work 
relief, with the view of introducing out-of-work insurance. 

In the winter of 1908 during one month 
Municipal single men out of employ were given 3s. 

weekly, married men with children of over 
fourteen years of age, 4s., and married men with children 
under fourteen years of age, 5s. weekly. The regulations 
required recipients to have passed their eighteenth birthday, 
to have lived a year in Mayence, to have been over a fort- 
night out of work, and until they had lost their places to 
have been constantly employed since the preceding March. 
The control was exercised through the trades unions for the 
organised workers and by the police for the unorganised. 
Every day that a worker did not register himself 6d. was 
deducted. The scheme went without a hitch. No attempt 
at fraud was detected. The municipality estimated the cost 
of the experiment at £500, but it turned out that only £171 
was used. 

In Dusseldorf the municipality expended in the winter of 
1908-1909 no less than £24,926 on out-of-work relief, which 

was given in the shape of municipal relief 

works. The total cost of these was £10,000 
more than if they had been executed in normal times at the 
ordinary labourer's wage. This has forced the municipality 
to take into consideration the introduction of compulsory 
unemployment insurance. 

In Elberfeld, during the winter of 1908-9 the municipality 
expended £7,477 on relief works for the unemployed, and in 
every large city in the empire the outlay was in the same 
proportion. 

An interesting report on the progress made in out-of-work 
insurance has been drawn up for the town of Schoneberg, a 

suburb of Berlin. The report discusses the 

An Re P e o r rt. ting sub j ect in aU its bearings, dealing with the 
various possible ways of preventing unem- 
ployment. In the first place is mentioned the regulation of 



142 Germany of the Germans 

production, which it is proposed to place under the super- 
vision of the State. Then the arrangement of public works 
so that they should be carried out, where possible, only in 
times of industrial depression. Finally, the organisation of 
registry offices and labour exchanges under the municipal 
authorities, connected with a central office, so that workers 
may be easily put into contact with work that is offered, is 
thoroughly gone into. 

The primary condition necessary for the unemployed 
worker who seeks public support is, it is pointed out, proof 
that he has honestly but unsuccessfully sought employment. 
His first duty is to seek work, and if the labour exchange 
affirms that work is unobtainable for him, then he may claim 
assistance. The labour exchange thus becomes the controlling 
factor. The support given must stop as soon as the worker 
finds employment. 

No scheme has yet been drawn up for the city of 
Schoneberg, but the municipal council is pursuing its 
inquiries. 

The city of Charlottenburg is about to introduce the so- 
called Bielefeld system of giving work to the deserving and 
willing unemployed in its own undertakings, 

R r fStm com P r i s i n g the collection of dust and waste 
paper, gardening, etc., and also arranging 
for private persons to take them into their service for 
unskilled work. The city authorities pay all sickness, old- 
age, accident and infirmity insurance fees, and guarantee 
the workers from two to three shillings a day while in their 
employ. 

An important factor in the fight against distress arising 

from unemployment is the establishment of labour exchanges. 

Apart from those connected with trades 

Labour unions and private registry offices, there 
Exchanges. * ° J 

are in the whole Empire 389 public labour 

exchanges, 248 of which are in Prussia, 55 in Bavaria, 11 in 

Saxony, 15 in Wurttemberg, 17 in Baden, 10 in Hesse, and 



The Problem of the Unemployed 143 

16 in Alsace-Lorraine, 3 each in Brunswick and Waldeck, 
2 each in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Oldenburg, Saxe-Coburg- 
Gotha and Hamburg, and 1 each in Liibeck and Lippe. During 
the last year for which returns are available these exchanges 
found employment for 932,956 people, of whom 667,441 were 
men and 265,505 women. Only 61,742 situations were filled 
in agricultural employ, the remainder being spread over 
the various trades. 

Most of the labour exchanges are organised into district 
unions, which are in constant communication, and through 
which the supply and demand are equalised. When a work- 
man is offered work in another district, the railways, which 
are all in the hands of the State, assist him to get there by 
allowing him to travel at Id. for five miles. At some of the 
exchanges registration is entirely free, at others a small fee 
is charged. 

The central labour exchange of Berlin, which is subsidised 

by the city to the extent of £2,750 annually and receives 

from the Prussian State railways the privi- 

Re ul t * e & e °^ ver y cnea P railway rates for workers 

proceeding to other districts to take jobs 
offered, has been very successful in its efforts to bring the 
unemployed in touch with employment. In the year 1908 
no fewer than 100,000 applicants were placed in the city, and 
1 ,669 working men were sent by the exchange to definite work 
in other districts. During the twelve months 16,686 women, 
other than domestics, were registered as out of employment, 
and 15,213 inquiries were made by employers for working 
women. Of the places offered 12,700 were filled through 
the medium of the exchange. Domestic servants registered 
to the number of 867, and for these the exchange had 
1,184 places at its disposal. 

The Stuttgart and Munich exchanges each provided 
places for over 70,000, while Dresden and Diisseldorf were 
each able to find situations for about 50,000 in the course 
of the year. 



144 Germany of the Germans 

The scene at one of the labour exchanges is worth description. 

If a visit is made to the central exchange in Cologne early any 

morning in winter hundreds of unemployed 

D .< g may be seen waiting for the doors to open, for 

the rule is "First come, first served." Most 
of the men are unskilled labourers, many of whom have 
voluntarily joined the unemployment insurance. When no 
work is offered them at the exchange they receive the daily 
pay offered from the insurance fund, which is just enough to 
keep them and their families from starvation. All are cleanly 
if not well dressed, and one can almost discern from their 
clothing to what branch of industry they belong. Builders 
and masons' labourers and navvies, prevented by the pre- 
vailing frost from working, ironworkers, shopmen, working 
women — all kinds are there. 

None need to remain out in the cold when the doors are 
opened. There are separate waiting-rooms for men and 
women, with 330 seats, and provided with newspapers. The 
trades unions each have an office. Wash basins and towels 
are provided. A jobbing tailor and a snob are on the 
premises in order to execute repairs at moderate prices for 
those who desire to improve their appearance. A canteen 
is provided where milk, bread and fruit are sold at cheap 
rates. 

Many veterans' societies also have labour exchanges con- 
nected with them, and these are much used by soldiers leaving 
the active army for the reserve. The greatest 

VeTr* 1 th d difficulty is encountered by them in filling 
situations in agricultural districts, in conse- 
quence of men, originally agricultural labourers, after their 
period of service has expired, showing a great desire to remain 
in the cities instead of returning to the country. 

A number of the State Governments have been giving 
latterly very earnest consideration to the matter of 
unemployment . 

The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior has drawn up a 



The Problem of the Unemployed 145 

scheme for municipal insurance against unemployment, 
which has been submitted to the city councils of all the 

larger towns for criticism. It is proposed 
BaV A ri f n StatC *kat all municipal authorities shall register 

the skilled and unskilled unorganised unem- 
ployed and also the skilled unemployed belonging to organ- 
isations not providing out-of-work benefits. These are, in 
case the scheme becomes law, to be given monetary support 
in a ratio dependent on the ability of the municipality to 
supply the funds. A central labour exchange is also to be 
opened in each city, and the municipalities are asked to 
arrange the carrying out of any suggested public works, so 
that they shall be performed in times of depression. 

The Ministry of the Interior of Baden has also issued a 
memorandum on unemployed insurance, in which it proposes 

the introduction of the system of municipal 

support of trades unions for skilled workmen 
who are out of work and of a voluntary system of insurance 
under the auspices of the city authorities for unskilled 
labourers. Should the voluntary system not prove efficient 
in inducing thrift among the unskilled, the Ministry is of 
opinion that a law should be passed authorising the munici- 
palities to introduce compulsory insurance, to which all 
unskilled workmen not belonging to a trades union should 
be forced to subscribe a certain weekly sum while they are 
in work. Voluntary giving up of a situation and refusal to 
take suitable work when offered would bar a man from out- 
of-work pay. The Ministry rejects the idea of starting relief 
works, as dear and unsatisfactory. 

The Prussian Ministry has not taken any official steps 
towards the introduction of out-of-work insurance, but has 

ordered that the execution of public works 
W f Yn E * n connec tion with the railways, the roads, 

etc., shall be restricted to German subjects, 
unless by special permission, which is only accorded when no 
German workmen are available. 

io — (239 1 ) 



146 Germany of the Germans 

The figures relating to unemployment in various trades in 
Germany for the year 1908 are in some cases of an almost 
alarming nature. For instance, the union of 
State^of ^Various me t a i wor k e rs and engineers, which has its 
headquarters in Stuttgart and comprises 
366,052 members, had in the first quarter of 1908 no fewer 
than 9' 2 per cent, of its members on the out-of-work list, in 
the second quarter the percentage ran to 9*4, in the third to 
9*6 and in the last quarter to 11*2. The number of days of 
out-of-work benefit paid out amounted to 2,673,000. In 
the stone-masonry and hair-dressing trades the figures were 
even worse, culminating in the last quarter of 1908 with per- 
centages of 66 4 and 53*4 unemployed out of every 100 mem- 
bers, while in the same quarter the upholsterers and glaziers 
had 40 - 9 and 28*0 of every hundred members on the 
unemployed list. 

With these facts in view, it appears imperative that some 

steps should be taken by the various States to counteract 

the widespread distress, and, as the workmen 

Some Steps j n near ;[y a ri cases obiect to relief works, 

Imperative. - J ' 

considering them as only a form of cloaked 

charity, the introduction of a scheme of insurance to which 

workman, employer, municipality and State shall contribute, 

in proportions to be worked out after full discussion of the 

subject, seems to be called for, and, in the words of the Baden 

Minister of Commerce, must come. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE GREAT INDUSTRIAL MOVEMENT 

Rarely indeed in the history of the world has a nation 

made such rapid commercial and industrial progress as has 

the German Empire since its foundation in 

Devdopment. 187L TiU that time S P Ht U P int ° SmaU 
fractions, filled with petty jealousies, the 

nation, soon after its union, began to feel its strength and 

to seek for outlets for its enormous latent energies. 

The best thought, the keenest intelligence and the greatest 
energy of the nation have been and are being concentrated on 
the advancement of its prosperity, and devoted to the task 
of raising it to a higher plane. Where formerly the classics 
occupied the minds of the leading men, at the present moment 
economics are the leading branch of study. The causes of 
depression and prosperity among the principal foreign nations, 
and especially among Germany's trade rivals, are sought, so 
that mistakes can be remedied and fresh openings for trade 
secured. Theory and practice are no longer separated, but 
act in combination in commercial affairs, striving to push 
the nation forward to the front rank. 

The industrial system which has been developed by all 
these efforts, although perhaps not ideal, is 
Admirabl certainly admirable as far as organisation and 
efficiency are concerned. 

The result may be seen in the gradual transformation of 
Germany from an agricultural into an industrial nation. The 
rural population, which in 1871 amounted to 64 per cent., had 
decreased in 1907 to 32*7 per cent., and since then has still 
further declined. 

147 



148 Germany of the Germans 

The industrial growth may be measured to a certain extent 
by the amount of fuel consumed, which increased in round 
figures from 100,000,000 tons a year in 1895 to considerably 
over 200,000,000 tons in 1907. * 

The value of taxable property rose from £283,901,316 in 
1892 to £510,758,890 in 1906, when the last valuation was 
made. 

The increases in the imports and exports are remarkably 

significant. In 1889, including precious metals, the total 

of the imports amounted to £220,710,000; 

Im Ex r orts nd in 1908 [t was £ 415 >095,000. The exports in 

Xp ° 1889 were £178,795,000 ; in 1908 they were 

£350,980,000. From these figures it can be seen that foreign 

trade has almost doubled, but the imports have increased in 

greater ratio than the exports. 

In the meantime the population during the same years 
increased from about 49,000,000 to about 63,000,000 at the 
end of 1908. 

In examining more closely some of the causes which have 

brought about German success, it must be recognised that 

nothing is done haphazard. System and the 

Causes of ^ ^ attain their ends are the principal 

Success. r , ... 

factors in their triumphs. Some of their 

methods may not appeal to other peoples, who regard them 

as destructive to individuality and personal initiative. The 

German looks at the nation itself as an individual and the 

people forming it as mere parts of that individuality, all of 

which have to be trained to act in unison so that the best 

result can be attained. 

Their compulsory schooling is succeeded by virtually 

compulsory apprenticeship, compulsory manual training in 

the night schools, compulsory thrift, and compulsory military 

service — all tending to mould the people into those parts of 

the national machine which they are destined to become. 

Even when the German artisan is at work he is subjected to 

almost military discipline. 



The Great Industrial Movement 149 

Perhaps one of the reasons why Germany is able to make 
so much progress in international trade, especially in machine- 
made articles, is the fact that German work- 
Workmen's men are more amenable to discipline than 
Discipline. , . . _ r , 

those of other countries. It must be conceded 

that in machine work discipline counts for much, and the 
employers as a result of the universal strict military service 
have it placed ready to their hand. The German workman, 
as a general rule, does not possess much initiative. He will 
do what he is told to do, and do it well ; but beyond that 
he does not go. Specialisation, under the new conditions 
brought about by the introduction of machinery, is necessary, 
and it is carried out to a fine point in Germany. A system of 
control, too, is practised, in order to get the most out of the 
workers during their hours of labour. 

Law compels employers to send their apprentices to the 

continuation schools and to Sunday and 

Compulsory even j n g classes for young artisans, which are 

organised by the local authorities. 
Even the training of business managers is undertaken by 
some of the technical high schools : for example, that in 
Dresden, which not only gives the pupils a thorough technical 
and theoretical knowledge of the trades they desire to follow, 
but teaches them how to direct the business of a firm, the 
handling of men, and the making of estimates. 

The situation of the workman is not so good as in America 
or England, but is being rapidly improved by the action of the 
trades unions. 

Wages have risen and working hours declined to a remark- 
able extent throughout Germany in the last twenty years. 
While living has become very much dearer, 
Wages and t the wor k ers are better off than they 

riours. J . . . 

were. The tendency to improve their position 
is still marked, and manufacturers who, owing to the low 
wages formerly prevailing, were able to compete successfully 
without trouble at a goodly profit with foreigners, even often 



150 Germany of the Germans 

paying freight, now find that the German workman is 
demanding his dues and getting them, to such an extent 
that the profits are cut down to a very low figure, and it is 
only owing to cutting off all waste expenditure and per- 
fecting methods that they will in the near future be able to 
compete at all. 

Printers, miners, metal-workers, stokers, machine-men, 
wood-workers, glaziers, builders, carpenters, bakers, textile 
workers and municipal employees have all succeeded in 
considerably shortening their working hours and have at the 
same time secured increases of wages. 

Despite these improvements, the position of many factory 
workers is not a brilliant one, as may be seen from an interest- 
ing collection of statistics obtained by the 
Figures German Union of Factory Workers, composed 

of 140,000 members, to each of whom a 
circular was sent asking for information on these points. 
The replies received totalled 79,140, of which 73,088 were 
from men and 6,052 from women workers. Of the total 
61,383 worked 54-60 hours per week, 11,183 worked from 
60-72 hours and more weekly, and only 6,574 worked less 
than 54 hours weekly. The average weekly wage of all the 
men working in factories was 22s. 9d., while that of the 
women was lis. 6d. Only 530 of the men received more than 
35s. a week, and only sixteen of the women more than 20s. 
weekly. 

Probably the large number of foreign workmen coming 

into the country from lands where wages are still lower has 

retarded the increase of wages in some 

Workmen industries to a certain extent. The number 

of foreign workmen employed in the German 

Empire is in round figures 1,000,000, of whom 600,000 are 

engaged in industries and 400,000 in agriculture. Of the 

total 400,000 are Austrians, 270,000 Russians, 150,000 

Italians, 100,000 Dutchmen, and the remainder of various 

nationalities. 




o 

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03 
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c/f 
O 

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G 

W 

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The Great Industrial Movement 151 

The progress of trades unionism was considerably assisted 
by the introduction of the compulsory insurance laws for 
workmen, as these enactments relieved the 
trades unions of a heavy burden. The 
position of the German Socialist trades unions and the trade 
societies of Great Britain may be exactly compared, as they 
are numerically almost equal. In each country there are 
about 2,000,000 trades unionists, and the income of the trade 
societies in each case amounts to about £2,350,000 annually. 
Their expenditure, however, is on an entirely different footing. 
The British trades unions paid out in sick and superannuation 
pay, according to the yearly statistics for 1906, no less than 
£735,000, while the German trades unions paid out only 
£190,000 for the same purpose. Death money to the total of 
only £10,000 was paid by the British unions, whereas the 
Germans paid out £115,000. Unemployed pay in the British 
unions totalled £430,000, while the Germans paid out only 
£180,000. As may be seen from these few figures, the funds 
of the German unions did not have so many calls made upon 
them. They were thus able to give a greater amount of 
pecuniary support to strikers, the total paid out under 
this head reaching £790,000, against only £160,000 paid 
out by the British unions for the same purpose. Strikes in 
Germany tend to increase every year. For the year under 
review they totalled 3,626 with 349,000 strikers, whereas 
in Great Britain they numbered only 486 with 158,000 
strikers. 

The exact number of members belonging to the Socialist 

trades unions at the end of 1908 was 1,831,731, of whom 

138,443 were women. There are two other 

Members important federations of trades unions, which 

are not of a political character, namely, the 

Hirsch-Duncker Federation, numbering 105,558 members, 

and the Christian trades unions, comprising 264,519 

members. 

In direct opposition to the trades unions are the associations 



152 Germany of the Germans 

of employers. There were at the beginning of 1909 no fewer 
than 127 of these associations with a total membership of 
159,304 employers, giving employment to 3,648,679 workers. 
They are, however, not so well organised as the trades unions, 
and up till the present they have not formed a central 
federation. 

Work-books, once carried by all workers, are now confined 

to minors and domestics. In them are inscribed the name 

of the owner, place and date of birth, date 

Workers' f starting and quitting an employ, and 

nature of the occupation. In the case of 

minors under sixteen the book also contains the name 

and domicile of the father or guardian. An employer may 

not write his opinion of the abilities of the worker or the 

reason for leaving in the book, either favourable or 

unfavourable. 

The workers' welfare is well watched over in the workshops. 

Factory inspectors are at all times empowered to visit factories 

where ten men and over are employed, and in 

General trades regarded as unhealthy even where a 

smaller number of persons are engaged. In 

many factories, where the work is of a dirty nature, shower 

baths are provided, together with wardrobes for the men's 

outdoor clothing, for it is customary in Germany for the 

workman to change his outer clothing entirely before he starts 

work. This is one of the reasons why the working men, in 

whatever trade, present such a clean, neat and well-to-do 

appearance in the streets. 

It is a very rare thing for a worker to be accorded a vacation, 
with his wages, in a German factory ; but of late years some 
firms have introduced the system, and there is some likelihood 
of its spreading throughout the country, as the grant has 
tended to create more satisfaction with the conditions of 
labour where it has been introduced. The German workman 
has been badly off indeed in this respect, for he does not have 
a Saturday half-holiday. 



The Great Industrial Movement 153 

The family life of the working people is on the most modest 
scale. They are usually contented with their lot in life, and 
do not share in the hunt after excitement 
Workers an( ^ extravagance. Temperate to a remark- 
able degree, they delight to stay at home and 
enjoy the company of their wives and children and join with 
them in simple home amusements. 

The extraordinary thrift of the working classes, men and 
women, is shown by the savings banks' returns, which give 
a total of over 19,000,000 small depositors, who have 
£642,600,000 to their credit, all of which is guaranteed by the 
municipalities. 

Although small incomes are the rule everywhere throughout 

Germany, there is a considerable number of persons who are 

in receipt of incomes which may be considered 

Io ge as placing them in very comfortable positions. 

According to the income-tax returns for 1908, 

there were in Prussia alone no fewer than 17,957 persons 

enjoying an annual income of between £1,500 and £5,000, 

a body of 3,796 persons who had over £5,000, 190 with 

from £25,000 to £50,000, and 77 with more than £50,000 

a year. 

Among the principal industries are those connected with 
coal, iron and steel. 

Principal Owing to the immense richness in coal of 

Industries. it*? o tt o-i • 

the Ruhr, the Saar and the Upper Silesian 

districts, the iron and steel industries of Germany 

have concentrated there and have made such enormous 

progress that they now employ over 2,000,000 hands. 

Three works alone, the Krupp, the Phcenix and the 

Gelsenkirchen Companies, give employment to over 150,000 

people. 

Coal-mining is a great industry, employing about 1,000,000 

workers. The State takes part in it to a considerable extent. 

Of the total of 143,168,300 tons of coal mined in 1907 

throughout Germany the State took out 10,693,000. 



154 Germany of the Germans 

The Government mines in the Saar district employ 51,000 

miners and officials, whose families number over 200,000. 

Forty per cent, of the men possess their own 

Government cottages ; 31 per cent, live with their parents ; 

the remainder live in surrounding villages. 

The mines are models of organisation and are situated in the 

centre of artificially cultivated forests which belong to the 

State. 

In the Rhenish Westphalian coal district, which thirty years 
ago was almost undeveloped and only provided work for 
thousands, towns have sprung up, and hundreds of thousands 
are now employed. Everywhere can be seen slack heaps 
resembling miniature mountain ranges and flaming chimneys 
of iron and steel works. 

The production of pig-iron has increased rapidly since 1900, 
when 8,521,000 tons were produced. In 1907, 13,046,000 
were produced, but this total fell off to 11,814,000 in 
1908, owing to the trade crisis which affected the whole 
world. 

Machinery construction forms a very important branch of 
German industry, employing over 600,000 persons. 

The electrical industry has spread to immense proportions, 

and the companies connected with it possess vast resources 

and employ many thousands of men. They 

Electrical are a ^ ^e present moment formed into three 

great trusts, which have eliminated the 

disastrous competition carried on by the host of smaller 

concerns before the economic crisis that occurred at the 

beginning of this century. 

The principal object aimed at by the trade, now that the 
municipalities have universally adopted the electric-lighting 
system and the tramways have all been transformed into 
electric lines, is the electrification of the great main lines of 
railway, nearly all of which are in the possession of the various 
States of the Empire. 

On numbers of the shorter and secondary lines electricity 




Kessler 



BARONESS VON BOHLEN (NEE KRUPPj 



The Great Industrial Movement 155 

has been introduced and has proved very practical and 
economical in working. Railway engineers say that the cost 
of electrification is soon paid for by the diminution of the 
working force necessary, as the motors do not require so much 
cleansing, damage to forests by fire is avoided, whereby 
thousands of pounds yearly are saved, there is no smoke 
from locomotives to injure crops, a far smaller quantity 
of coal is necessary to develop the electricity than to run 
separate steam locomotives, and thus space and buildings 
are saved. 

Chemistry, in which over 90,000 persons are employed, has 
had its home in Germany since the beginning of the Christian 
era, and the Germans seem to have been 
Chemical among the first to discover the value of the 
natural treasures in the shape of mineral and 
vegetable salts, although owing to the divisions of the nation 
the chemical industry was not properly developed until later 
than in England. At the present moment Germany possesses 
practically a monopoly in the production of potash salts, 
so useful for fertilisation purposes. Over £5,000,000 worth 
of these salts are utilised annually in Germany in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil, and enormous quantities are exported. In 
the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations and smelling 
salts also Germany takes a leading part. In the past quarter 
of a century more discoveries have been made in chemistry 
than in any other branch of science, and with her natural 
resources and highly trained chemical specialists Germany 
promises to keep her lead in this respect. 

One branch of manufacture, which is entirely new to 

Germany, has made enormous strides since its introduction. 

In very recent years Saxony has won a place 

N j . in the manufacture of tulle which is causing 

considerable uneasiness in other countries. 

In the vicinity of Plauen and Chemnitz factories have 

sprung up like mushrooms. Twenty years ago not a yard 

of tulle was made in the German Empire. Now 1,100 tulle 



156 Germany of the Germans 

frames turn out £2,000,000 worth annually, and more are 
being erected. The machines for the industry are also being 
constructed in the neighbourhood, and it is said that the 
spools and shuttles, the secret of manufacturing which has 
hitherto been in English hands, has now been discovered, 
and that in future the whole trade will be entirely 
independent. 

One of the most important glass works in the world is to 
be found in Jena, where fifty-five tons of optical glasses of all 

kinds alone are made yearly, and exported 
Branches over ^ e entire world, including telescopic 

lenses up to four feet in diameter. Over 
1,200 workers are employed. 

Other great branches of industry are quarrying, employing 
317,000 ; the wood-working trades, in which over 200,000 
people are engaged ; the clothing trade, employing 220,000 ; 
and printing, which occupies considerably over 100,000 people, 
without taking into consideration the bookbinding and other 
branches connected with it. 

In the eastern provinces of Germany, progress has not been 
so rapid as in other districts, owing to the lack of coal and 

iron, but in spite of this rather unfavourable 
the West P os iti on strong efforts are continually being 

made to establish industries there. The 
utilisation of the water power of rivers, with which the east 
is well provided, promises to change the aspect of these 
hitherto almost purely agricultural provinces, which will then 
be able to participate more freely in the timber trades, in 
brickmaking, papermaking, and the textile trades. The 
Emperor gave an impetus to the industrial movement of the 
east by his speech at the opening of the Danzig Technical High 
School, when he said : "If the eastern provinces, owing to 
their position and natural conditions, are less adapted to 
industrial development than other parts of the Empire, yet 
technical knowledge will be able to replace in many instances 
what nature has failed to provide." 



The Great Industrial Movement 157 

Germany shares with England and the United States the 

honour of the lead in inventiveness. It is, however, notable 

that very few inventions are brought to the 

German f r0 nt by the working classes. This is, accord- 
Inventiveness. J Til • 

mg to people who have studied the subject in 

various countries, to be traced to the fact that the German 

artisans work longer hours and so have less time to devote to 

exercising their inventive genius. In technical inventions 

Germany is well to the front. To take one branch alone, in 

one year no fewer than 1,500 patents were applied for in 

Germany for inventions connected with electricity. 

It is not only in the systematic organisation of their indus- 
tries that the Germans have made great progress, but also in 
the way of bringing their wares to market. 

The commercial German is among the leaders of his kind. 

He is more to be thanked for Germany's prosperity than is 

the industrial, for he has gone all over the 

The Commercial wor ^ an( j SO ught markets for the goods. 

He finds no trouble too great when he is 

seeking openings for trade. He learns the languages, customs, 

and coinage of the various countries, and by placing his goods 

before the foreigners in their own language and figures he 

often secures orders where others fail. 

Two small examples of the German readiness to meet the 
wishes of customers : The egg-cups imported into India at 
one time all came from Great Britain. The Indian eggs are, 
however, very small, and the egg-cups did not fit. A German 
traveller noticed this small item and got his firm to make 
smaller egg-cups and export them there. All the trade is now 
in German hands. 

In Africa the scissors imported from Sheffield were found 
to be rather dangerous weapons to place in the hands of 
the natives owing to their sharp points. The Solingen 
steel works sent a lot of round-pointed scissors out, which 
found favour, and now Germany has captured the whole 
market. 



158 Germany of the Germans 

The banks may be said to compose the very marrow in 
the bones of German commerce. Always ready to furnish 
capital to enterprising manufacturers and for 
System 1 promising speculations, many of the larger 
institutions retain a staff of experts in elec- 
tricity, engineering, shipping, railways and other leading 
branches who report on the prospects of success, and if their 
reports are satisfactory the bank at once guarantees the 
necessary monetary aid. 

There are altogether in Germany 442 banking companies 
with a total paid-up capital of £184,750,000 and £50,000,000 
reserves. Six of these are note-issuing banks, 40 mortgage 
banks, 396 credit banks. 

It was Frederick the Great who, in the eighteenth century, 
initiated the system of land credit and mortgage banks, 
L d c H*t wn i° n nas proved of such enormous value to 
agriculture, and has practically rooted out 
the formerly prevalent usury. The operations of each of these 
banks, which exist only in Germany, Austria and the western 
provinces of Russia, are confined to a certain district, where 
it lends money on landed property up to a certain proportion 
of its officially estimated value. The capital is raised by 
means of mortgage notes sold to the public, which pass readily 
from hand to hand in the open market. The banks are 
co-operative institutions formed by the landowners of the 
district, who give a general guarantee for the payment of the 
interest. 

Another series of these mortgage banks deals with city and 

industrial property. It was instituted about fifty years ago, 

and has had an immense and beneficial inrlu- 

Banksf 6 ence on ^ e development and extension of the 

cities and in assisting in the spread of industry. 

At the end of the year 1907 mortgages on land arranged 

by these institutions amounted to £481,120,000. This figure 

has since that date greatly increased, and it is now estimated 

that the mortgages amount to £600,000,000, and other loans 



The Great Industrial Movement 159 

on property to £300,000,000. The percentage of interest 
on mortgages ranges between 3J and 5, the average being 
about 3- 66 per cent., but it shows, together with the 
interest on Government loans, an inclination to recede 
steadily. 

The agricultural element in Germany takes a very important 
position in the country. Over 17,500,000 of the population 
are engaged in cultivating just over 80,000,000 
acres of land, which in general is fairly fertile. 
It produces annually an average of 10,700,000 tons of rye, 
3,760,000 of wheat, 3,050,000 of barley, 46,000,000 of potatoes, 
7,600,000 of oats, 12,500 of hops, besides hay and other 
products, and wine is grown to the value of £6,300,000 
annually. 

The breeding of animals for food also gives very extensive 
occupation to the population. There were over 20,600,000 
cattle, 7,700,000 sheep, 22,000,000 pigs, 3,500,000 goats, and 
77,000,000 poultry at the last census. Besides these there 
were 4,300,000 horses. 

Many of the farmers possess not only a thorough practical 
knowledge of agriculture, but have also passed through a 
severe scientific and theoretical course at one of the excellent 
agricultural high schools. They apply the knowledge thus 
acquired with very successful results to the cultivation of the 
land, which is made to produce to its highest capacity. 

The small farmer, who at one time was strongly in favour 

of the imposition of duties on grain, has of late years somewhat 

slackened in his belief in the system. He, as 

Tariff a ru ^ e ' § rows ver Y little wheat to sell. It is 
mostly for his own use, so that the high 
selling price does not bring him any profit. The big farmers, 
on the other hand, who grow great quantities of wheat, are 
enabled, owing to the duty raising prices, to make very good 
profits on their sales. This leads the big farmers, when prices 
are high, to buy up neighbouring land, so as to be able to 
increase their profits, and thus the small farmer is ousted 



160 Germany of the Germans 

from the land, and forced to turn to the towns, a fate which the 
imposition of the duties was intended to hinder. 

There exists a large body of opinion among manufacturers 
and commercial men in favour of a return to free trade, but 
it is entirely unorganised, and in face of the 
ree^Trade well-disciplined phalanx of landowners stands 
small chance of a hearing. The exponents 
of the principle of free trade argue that an enormous increase 
of exports is necessary to keep pace with the rapid growth 
of population. Hitherto exports have not accomplished this, 
and the cause is said by the free traders to be that the protec- 
tive tariffs imposed by Germany make other countries resort 
to reprisals with the result that the German products are often 
shut out. They adduce the argument that in times of great 
prosperity all over the world the damage to German trade 
thus caused is not greatly noticed, but whenever a depression 
sets in she is among the first to suffer. 

The difference in prices caused by the protective tariff on 
grain is enormous. Whereas in London white wheat is quoted 
in round figures at £1 16s. Od. per ton, in 
Berlin it costs £10 10s. Od. Rye-bread costs 
in Berlin at the present moment 4d. per kilogram or 2J English 
pounds, while wheaten bread is unobtainable under 3d. a 
pound. 

The tariff laws grant farmers who export cereals certificates 
permitting them to import similar or other cereals free of duty. 
For instance, if a farmer exports fifty tons of oats he receives 
a certificate of the value of £125, which would be the amount of 
the duty on fifty tons of imported oats. The farmer, however, 
instead of importing oats, brings in forage-barley, the duty 
on which is only £32 10s. for fifty tons, so that with his certi- 
ficate he can import nearly 200 tons of forage-barley, which he 
can then sell at the high home prices. As coffee and petroleum 
may also be imported with these certificates, the State loses 
an enormous amount of duty, which goes into the pockets of 
the great landowners. 



The Great Industrial Movement 161 

As to the position of the farm labourer, it is often described 

as being no better than that of a serf in some parts of the 

country. The stories of mishandling on the 

L boure" 1 P ar * °* em pl° vers must be regarded in many 
cases as exaggerated, but that the farm 
labourer has not made such progress as his industrial brother 
seems evident from the figures of an average married agricul- 
tural labourer's budget for himself and family in East Prussia, 
which are : Weekly earnings, 9s. Expenditure : 32 lb. rough 
rye bread, 4s. ; 2 lb. lard, Is. 2Jd. ; 6 quarts milk, 8f d. ; 
3 herrings, lfd. ; meat, salt, onions, coffee, wood fuel, petro- 
leum, soap, 2s. 2Jd., leaving 8|d. surplus weekly for clothing, 
etc. The lodging is free. 

The average wage of farm labourers is, however, somewhat 
higher in other districts, amounting generally in summer to 
lis. 6d. per week, with free lodging and potatoes, while the 
wife can earn 7s. 3d. a week. In winter the wages of each 
respectively are 9s. and 5s. 6d. weekly. 

The co-operative movement has made enormous strides in 

Germany in recent years. Not only does the movement apply 

to the co-operative manufacture and supply 

of all kind of articles, but also to the working 

of land by small farmers, who join together in the purchase 

of up-to-date machinery for mutual use. 

Co-operative supply societies numbered at the end of 1907 
no fewer than 51,000, with a total membership of over 
8,000,000. 



ii— (2391) 



CHAPTER XVII 

MODEL FORESTERS 

Sentiment and foresight combined have placed Germany 

in the proud position of serving as a model to all other countries 

in connection with the preservation and 

Nea Sy^tem feCt cultivation of forest land. Long before any 
other nation had given a thought to the 
immense damage that was being done to the soil by denuding 
it of timber, or to the false economy of using up natural 
resources without making any provision for future needs, 
Germany had thoroughly weighed the consequences and 
adopted a system of reafforestation which is now recognised 
by technical experts from all over the world to be as nearly 
perfect as possible. 

It must be admitted, even by those opposed to what is 
termed " State Socialism," that the intervention of the 
Government in this connection has been of undoubted benefit 
to the nation. 

The administration and oversight of the forests is wonder- 
fully efficient, so much so that the Indian Forestry Department 
engaged German foresters trained in the 
Efficient technical schools in this country to organise 
the forest preservation and cultivation in the 
Indian Empire, and with very satisfactory results. 

The minute manner in which every detail of forestry is 
studied is another instance of the thoroughness of Germans 
when they have once set their minds on a task. 

The most productive trees, according to the nature of the 
soil, are selected for plantation, and not a foot of available 
land is permitted to remain idle for longer than is absolutely 
necessary. Whenever a clump of trees is felled, a plot of 

162 



Model Foresters 163 

land of equal extent is planted simultaneously to provide 
for future requirements. 

It has been found in practice that the oak, the birch, the 
beech, the pine, the larch and the red and white fir furnish 
the most profit. 

The plan of taking care of the forests has not only had the 
effect of retaining and improving the beauties of the country- 
side, but has also been very profitable to the 
Beautiful and var j ous Federal Governments of the Empire. 
During the year 1908, the Federal States made 
a total net profit of no less than £7,650,000 from their public 
lands and forests, after all the expenditure had been deducted. 
This sum really falls directly into the pockets of the taxpayers, 
who would, if the money had not been earned by the Forestry 
Departments, have undoubtedly been called upon for still 
larger increases of taxation than were levied. 

The forests belonging to the various States, however, do 
not compose even a half of the forest land in the Empire. 
There are altogether in Germany 34,734,123 acres of 
woodland area, distributed fairly equally over all the 
States, except Schleswig-Holstein, where, however, reaffores- 
tation is now being undertaken. Of the total 32*9 per 
cent, belongs to the Governments, 47' 5 per cent, to private 
owners, including the rulers, 1*3 per cent, to the Church, 
156 per cent, to various municipalities, and 23 per cent, to 
public corporations. 

The proportion of the land of the Empire covered with 
woods is 25'7 per cent., or just over a quarter. Some of the 
States show a much larger proportion. For 
w^; instance, Meiningen is wooded to the extent 

of 41*7 per cent., Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt 
45*4 per cent., Baden 375 per cent., Bavaria 33 per cent., 
Hesse 31*3 per cent., Wiirttemberg 30' 8 per cent., Alsace- 
Lorraine 30* 6 per cent., and Saxony, despite its almost entirely 
industrial character, has 27*7 per cent, of forests. 

The entire profit in 1908 was estimated at nearly £22,000,000, 



164 Germany of the Germans 

but there is no possibility of getting at the exact figures. It 
must be understood that the value of the forest lands is 
constantly increasing. 

Every acre devoted to forestry is said to produce forty-six 
cubic feet of timber yearly. The most recent figures for a 
year's produce give 20,017,896 cubic metres of useful timber, 
and 17,850,646 cubic metres of firewood. 

It is not only from the timber produced by the forests that 
the States reap a profit. Peat is also got in great quantities. 
Then there are the shooting rents paid by sportsmen, which 
in Alsace-Lorraine bring in nearly £4,000 a year ; in Baden, 
£2,660 ; in Bavaria, £5,750. 

As to the number of persons engaged in the work of cultiva- 
tion and preservation, only the figures for Prussia are available. 
These show that no fewer than 65,392 people 

Numbers were em pi y e d i n the Prussian forests in 1907, 
Employed. ■ 

including officials and labourers. Prussia is 

far from being the most wooded of the States, so that the 

number of persons employed in this work throughout the 

Empire must be very large. 

The upper division of State forestry officials — chief foresters 
and rangers — consists of men of the highest educational 
attainments and technical training. They are chosen from 
pupils of the superior classical, semi-classical and modern 
schools who have earned a certificate entitling them to enter 
a university, but they must also display particular brilliance 
in mathematics before being permitted to enter as candidate 
for the post of forester. The career, although not a very 
lucrative one, possesses a sort of sentimental charm for many 
Germans, who have ever since pre-Roman days been greatly 
attached to the forest. 

One of the conditions imposed on a candidate is that he 
must procure a written guarantee from his parents or guardians 
that he shall be furnished with sufficient means to sustain 
him for at least twelve years after his acceptance into the 
service at the age of twenty-two years. 



Model Foresters 165 

This formality complied with, the candidate must pass a 

year in the forest lodge of a chief ranger in order that he may 

obtain sufficient knowledge of the rudiments 

Foresters' f forestry to enable him later to follow intel- 
I Tciininj? 

ligently the lectures at the technical forestry 

academy, which he must then attend for at least two years, 

meanwhile passing his vacations in doing practical forestry 

work. 

The two years over, he must proceed to a university for a 
year to study law before undergoing examination. On the 
result of this examination depends his appointment as referee, 
or assistant-surveyor, in which capacity he must serve two 
years at practical forestry work and then undergo another 
examination before being appointed assessor. Afterwards 
it depends on the abilities of the man himself how long he 
must wait for appointment as chief forester, which may be 
many years. He in the meantime must content himself with 
the small fees he can obtain from temporary surveying work. 
When his final appointment is made his salary as chief forester 
will mount gradually from £135 to £275 a year, with certain 
allowances, and the right to shoot game for his own table. 

The lower ranks of Government foresters are filled by men 
of good elementary education, who, after serving two years 
as apprentices under an experienced forester, 
T1 R L u Wer between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, or 
attending a two years' course at an ordinary 
forestry school, of which there are a number spread over the 
country, must join one of the rifle regiments for a period of 
three years' active service. They then enter the forestry 
service as temporary helpers, but are not entitled to be 
appointed as foresters until they have finished a further period 
of nine years in the reserve. A number of men, however, by 
continuing their active service in the Army for another six 
years, during which they must attain the rank of sergeant- 
major, are entitled to appointments as foresters immediately 
after leaving the Army. So many young men have chosen 



166 Germany of the Germans 

forestry for their career that candidates often have to wait 
twenty years from the time of starting their apprenticeship 
before receiving permanent appointments as foresters. 

The question of the influence of forests on the climate of a 
country has been the subject of much discussion and extensive 

scientific observation for the past half-century. 

Influence on The result of tMs has led scientists to the 
Climate. , 

conclusion that wooded lands exercise con- 
siderable influence in diminishing extreme changes of tempera- 
ture in the immediately surrounding country, but do not 
affect climatic conditions over a wide range. The soil of the 
forest, owing to the protection afforded by the trees, is cooler 
in summer and warmer in winter than the soil of open land. 

Scientists in Germany regard the idea as erroneous that the 
cultivation of trees attracts rain, but they agree that the forest 
land retains humidity after rain for a longer period than other 
soil, as the moisture cannot evaporate so quickly owing to the 
protection afforded from winds and the rays of the sun. The 
existence of trees also has some effect in breaking the force of 
the wind. 

The greatest utility of forests, besides the value of the timber 
they yield, is in the holding of the soil firmly together and not 
permitting it to be gradually blown away by winds, as it 
would be if the land were clear. 

Altogether, Germans with justice regard their forests as 
a precious treasure of the nation, indispensable, not only 
commercially, but for the opportunities they afford for the 
study of nature. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT 

No one would imagine, from surface indications, that Germany 
was troubled with the difficult problem of how to deal with 

the curse of alcoholism. 
Public xt is a most peculiar fact that, although 

fU Rare. neSS m tne **§ German cities intoxication is 

remarkable by its almost complete absence 
irom the streets and public places, yet the drunkards' institutes 
in charge of the municipal authorities and private societies 
are almost always full. 

Foreigners who have lived for years in Berlin, for instance, 
will affirm with truth that they have hardly ever seen a 
drunken man. Yet one has only to visit one of the receiv- 
ing stations for drunkards in the suburbs and one can there 
see daily at about midday half a dozen men and women 
handed over by policemen in uniform who have brought them 
from police headquarters. Some of them are in a state of 
complete collapse suffering from alcoholic poisoning, others 
recovering from a heavy bout of drinking and in various 
stages of jollity or remorse ; still others are for the time being 
insane and require force to keep them from injuring 
themselves or others. 

In the receiving station they are taken charge of by powerful 
warders and at once inspected by the physicians. Some of 

them need careful medical treatment ; others 

D Ho kardS ' are onl y kept until they have recovere(i from 
the effects of an orgy, while the temporarily 

insane are placed in thickly-mattressed beds over which is a 
wooden framework covered with strong webbing through 
which it is impossible for them to force themselves. This 

167 



168 Germany of the Germans 

system is used instead of the old-fashioned strait jacket. 
The patients are dressed alike in blue and white striped 
smocks, but those who are nearly cured are distinguished from 
the others by wearing blue smocks. 

There are distributed over Germany thirty-one drunkards' 
homes, with 1,137 beds (1,062 for men and 75 for women). 
There are also in the lunatic asylums and hospitals many 
thousands of people under treatment for alcoholism. The 
Poor Law authorities find it necessary to place over a thousand 
persons under guardianship in public institutions every year 
in consequence of their alcoholic tendency being a danger to 
the community as well as to their families, and this number 
would be greatly augmented but for the fact that many of the 
poorer parishes decline to take action against the drunkards 
for fear they should become a burden to the public funds. 

In spite of the spread of the temperance movement, official 

statistics for the Empire show that the number of habitual 

drunkards is increasing. In the three years 

Drunkards. from 1877 to 1879 > there were 12 ' 836 P ersons 
under treatment in hospitals and sanatoriums, 

suffering from alcoholism, while 2,556 more were confined in 
lunatic asylums. In the three years from 1899 to 1901, these 
figures had increased to 65,433 and 7,394 respectively, an 
increase of 500 per cent., while the population had in the 
meantime augmented by only 33 per cent. The number of 
cases of heart disease, rheumatism and gout increased in the 
same period by 600 per cent. 

The municipal council of Leipzig does not believe in en- 
forcing abstinence on habitual drunkards, nor has it any faith 
in punishment by fine or imprisonment. All the cases of 
chronic alcoholism which come under the notice of its Poor Law 
department are handed over to the temperance societies, 
who endeavour to induce the victims to enter a home for 
drunkards during a certain period. The Municipal Council 
supports these homes with an annual grant of £150. The 
authorities find that drunkenness is the cause of most of the 




A GERMAN TYPE 



The Temperance Movement 169 

poverty in the city. As a rule, if it is proved that a man or 
woman has brought himself or herself and family to distress 
through drink, assistance from the public funds is refused 
unless the drunkard consents to enter a drunkards' home 
for a time. 

The Imperial Statistical Department, in its report on the 
working of the compulsory sick insurance of workmen, points 

out that in 1905 there were no fewer than 
P br air F° n d 34,375 cases of illness caused by excessive 

drinking of alcohol ; in 1906 there were 39,226, 
and in 1907 there were 45,248. Taking the average cost to 
the insurance funds of a case of sickness, in these three years 
alcoholism has been responsible for the outlay of £314,777 in 
sick pay alone. In these figures the sickness caused by the 
effects of alcoholism on the nervous and digestive systems 
is not taken into consideration. 

The Poor Law authorities calculate the cost to the rate- 
payers throughout the Empire in connection with cases of 
poverty caused by alcoholism at £2,500,000 annually. 

The sums spent on alcoholic liquors in Germany are 
immense, as can be seen from the figures of the Statistical 

Department, according to which in 1901, the 

Traffic in latest returns available, no less than 
Liquors. ' 

£112,500,000 was expended on beer, 

£28,000,000 on spirits and liqueurs, and £25,000,000 on wines. 

In the cities the consumption of alcoholic liquors appears 
to be decreasing, partly as a result of the campaign which 
has been waged by temperance advocates and hygienists in 
pointing out the dangers attending excessive spirit-drinking. 
Most of the newspapers in Germany have assisted this cam- 
paign by publishing from time to time articles on the subject. 
Still, one cannot assert that the opportunities for obtaining 
drink have diminished, for in Berlin, for example, there is a 
wine, beer or spirit dealer for every 157 inhabitants, including 
men, women and children. 

In the country districts during the harvest, when every 



170 Germany of the Germans 

available hand is called in to help, the children working in 
the fields are often given a glass of spirits to encourage them, 

as their parents and employers say. Even 
Condition ^ e suckling babies have a lump of sugar 

dipped in spirits and tied in a piece of linen 
given them to suck so as to keep them quiet. It certainly 
has the desired effect, but also produces other consequences, 
in inducing epilepsy, nervousness and disturbances of the 
body and brain. 

The formation of great dairy companies which collect the 
milk from the farms and send it to the cities is said by tem- 
perance advocates to have had a notably deleterious effect 
on the inhabitants of the country districts. These people, 
who formerly made milk one of their principal articles of diet, 
now sell it for ready money, with which they purchase beer, 
coffee and cheap spirits, with the result that country children 
instead of taking milk at their meals drink coffee, and their 
parents either drink beer or coffee, to which they add a glass 
of bad spirit. The recruiting officers of the Army have noted 
in consequence a marked diminution in the stature and 
strength of the rural recruits, a much larger percentage of 
whom are now rejected as unfit for service than was formerly 
the case. A remarkable fact is that the country inns are 
much less frequented than in former years, when they were 
the meeting places of the villagers. The reason for this is that 
the big breweries and distilleries have established depositories 
in practically every district, whence beer and spirits are 
delivered direct into the peasants' houses on the instalment 
system. 

Apart from the fact that the workmen's trades unions 
recommend their members to abstain from alcohol as a means 

of ameliorating their lot, they also advise 
Abstention 8 aDS tmence as a method of escaping taxation. 

The Gewerkverein, a trade-unionist newspaper, 
recently published the following notice, addressed to its 
readers, in reference to the permit given to wine-growers to 



The Temperance Movement 171 

distil a certain quantity of spirits free of duty : " Beer, spirits, 
coffee, tea, tobacco, cigars, matches have risen considerably 
in price owing to the new taxation. The burden is thrown 
on to the poor in order to protect the rich. We put the 
question to the German workers, whether they are going to 
support this policy of favours to the rich. Under no circum- 
stances should they do so. Many persons never take alcoholic 
liquor of any kind ; but the majority of German workers enjoy 
their glass of healthy refreshing beer, they like an occasional 
pipe or cigar, and find pleasure in a cup of coffee or tea with 
their families. They should make up their minds that they 
will do without spirits. The watchword of the future should 
be : ' Not another drop of fusel.' Spirits must be avoided 
like the plague. They have already ruined physically and 
morally millions of mankind. Let the German workman 
swear never to touch them again. If a comrade weakens in 
his resolve, let his stronger-willed fellows give him moral 
support. The workman's wife should be able to do much 
good in this direction. Two things will thus be attained : 
the workman will escape the baleful influence of bad spirits 
and at the same time frustrate the efforts of the rich to exploit 
his weaknesses ! " 

The Church authorities, at their meetings, frequently discuss 
ways and means of combating alcoholism, but, although they 
recommend pastors and Church officers to 
Church show by their example the benefits of tem- 
perate and orderly life, and also recognise the 
necessity of explaining to children the dangers of intemperance, 
the Church has hitherto not taken a very active part in the 
fight against the abuse of drink. 

The school authorities are fully aware of the dangers arising 
from the indulgence in alcoholic liquors by their pupils, and 
scholars of the elementary schools and the lower classes of the 
superior schools are forbidden to enter public-houses unless 
with their parents, under penalty of punishment. It is, of 
course, impossible to exercise any effective control- so as to 



172 Germany of the Germans 

carry out this order, which has consequently become a dead 
letter. It is now proposed to abolish the threat of punishment 
and even to rescind the order prohibiting children from enter- 
ing public-houses alone. In their place it is suggested that 
the pointing out of the evils of strong drink for children shall 
form part of the school syllabus, for, it is contended, education 
on the subject is likely to effect far more good than 
prohibitions. 

The German Society against the Misuse of Spirituous 
Liquors has been in existence since 1883. It does not impose 
absolute abstention upon its members, but 
SodetS° e endeavours by personal example, by advice 
to school children, and by lectures and publica- 
tions, to combat the evil of excessive drinking. The State 
and municipal authorities at first regarded the influence of 
the society as against the public interest, but at the present 
time its services are recognised in every way. The society 
erects small booths in open spaces and opens shops for the sale 
of milk in busy streets, and in this way offers a substitute for 
the temptations of the beer and spirit shops. 

The Good Templars, who are of course absolute abstainers, 
pay more attention to individual cases of alcoholism, and 
have helped many families to save themselves from threatened 
ruin by taking charge of chronic drunkards. 

The Good Templars were the first to take up the total 
abstinence movement in Germany, where they founded a lodge 
in 1851. Many other temperance societies have, however, 
since been formed. Pastors, students, teachers, schools, 
women, railway men, church members, doctors, commercial 
men, artisans, all have their own societies, and there is also 
the Blue Cross Society. According to the latest returns, the 
membership of all these societies does not exceed 50,000. 
Germans, as a rule, do not pin their faith to absolute absti- 
nence. They found their view on the statements of prominent 
professors, who, while recommending moderation, do not think 
total abstinence is necessary. 



The Temperance Movement 173 

In the course of an extended inquiry into the causes of 
alcoholism, it has been proved that when the working man's 

home accommodation is bad he always has 
S °AJ 6 £ a r Ses ° f more inclination to seek more cheerful 

surroundings, which he generally finds in the 
public-house. Thus, the ill-paid single workman or shop 
assistant, compelled to seek lodgings near his work, is often 
driven, perhaps against his own desire, to the public-house, 
because he in many cases finds no attraction in his miserable 
room. It must be said that of late years, in most German 
cities, the newly-built houses in the working-class districts 
are airy and spacious, with every hygienic convenience, and 
it is found that the greater the space allowed in the lodging 
the lower the outlay of the working-class family for alcoholic 
liquors. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE SPORTING SPIRIT 

Germany is still in its infancy as a nation of sportsmen, as 

far as the playing of games is concerned ; but the delights of 

open-air exercise are fast making themselves 

T of Sport. 07 known ' 

One of the most powerful advocates for the 

cultivation of physical exercises, Count Posadowsky, a former 

Cabinet Minister, has said : " The future will belong to the 

nation which keeps itself most physically fit and consequently 

most capable of defence. Those who strive to maintain the 

health and vigour of the masses are fighting for the strength 

and the future of the nation." 

He is only the mouthpiece of many other leading men in 

Germany who favour similar ideas. The Emperor himself has 

advised the officers of the Army and Navy on 

Distinguished severa j notable occasions to encourage out- 
door games among their men as an aid to 
self-reliance and discipline. The Crown Prince also takes 
every opportunity of encouraging sport by his presence at 
games and by founding and endowing prizes. He is himself 
one of the most assiduous of sportsmen. In yachting, riding, 
coaching and tennis he excels. 

Under such distinguished auspices it is small wonder that 
young and old, men and women, are beginning to appreciate 
the delights of open-air exercise. 

Where up till a generation ago one of the highest ideals of 
a German who had completed his military service was to 
acquire as much rotundity as possible and to avoid exercise 
when not compulsory, now he is continually seeking sun and 
air and practising all kinds of bodily exercise. Walking, 

174 



The Sporting Spirit 175 

mountain-climbing, riding, cycling, tennis, swimming, boating, 
and even football and cricket, all have their devotees. 

Every day brings fresh proof that the sporting spirit is 

awakening throughout the land. The physique and stamina 

necessary to all kinds of games are to hand : 

Ph Stai£nat nd wh ^ should the y not be developed so as to 
permit the Germans to take their proper place 
in sport and pit themselves against other athletic nations of 
the world ? 

Among old-fashioned Germans, however, the introduction 
of foreign sports is decried. They are contented with the 
old German gymnastics : excellent exercises, extensively 
practised in every part of the Empire and strongly encouraged 
by the authorities. The extent to which they are carried 
on may be gathered from the last report of the Imperial 
Federation of Gymnastic Societies, which numbered no fewer 
than 8,600 societies, with a total membership of 902,646. 

Most of these societies are composed of young working men, 
and they are controlled by the municipalities. There are, 
besides, many gymnastic societies connected with the schools. 
There is no doubt this exercise does much towards setting up 
the youth of the nation, and at the same time accustoms the 
participants to discipline, for in the gymnasiums the discipline 
is almost as strict as in the Army. 

Every four years a National Gymnastic Tournament is 

arranged by the central body which controls all the societies 

in Germany. To this tournament flock thou- 

G mnasts sa nds upon thousands of gymnasts. At the 

last one held in Frankfort-on-the-Main, in 

1908, nearly 50,000 men participated in the competitions, and 

these were accompanied by nearly 250,000 relatives and 

friends, who came to cheer their favourites. The city was 

at that time so overcrowded with visitors that all the public 

buildings, including the town hall and the schools, had to be 

turned into dormitories. 

The spectacle offered was well worth going a long way to 



176 Germany of the Germans 

see. Besides the various set competitions on apparatus, in 
which the German, owing to his constant training, is most 
expert, there were many events which are classed in other 
countries among athletic sports, including jumping, running, 
putting the shot, and throwing the ball. In these competi- 
tions no participant made anything like a record, but the 
average performances were so good that one could not but 
help thinking that if the German youth once takes up this class 
of sport seriously, he will surely make his mark, unless the 
stiffness of the iron discipline to which he is compelled to 
submit by the officials should prevent him from accomplishing 
the best that is in him. 

Even the smallest of children during their play are brought 
under the direct influence of iron discipline, and are not 
permitted to play spontaneously. The 
D . Ir .°y teachers, according to the school regulations, 

which they follow to the letter, must super- 
intend all the games of the children, and to the onlooker the 
sight of a group of little ones in a playground, forming a ring 
round a teacher and following his or her every movement 
with the precision of clockwork, is a lesson in how things 
should not be done. The poor little ones take no pleasure in 
this kind of play. It is regarded by them as part of their 
lessons. They need no such command, but love to spring 
around naturally and give off their excess of animal spirits. 
Of course, the presence of a teacher to prevent brutality and 
bullying of weak children, and also to see that dangerous feats 
are not undertaken, is necessary ; but a continued direction of 
the children's movements makes the children old before they 
have grown up, and makes them lose their sense of freedom. 

Participation in gymnastic exercises is compulsory in all 

public schools, except when a doctor certifies 

Compulsory ^^ ^ exerc i ses WO uld be dangerous to 

!SX6fClS6. 

the health of a pupil. A private doctor's 
certificate is not accepted as sufficient : the pupil must 
undergo examination by the official physician. Anaemia, 



The Sporting Spirit 177 

weakness of muscles, or colds are not regarded as sufficient 
excuse. 

With all this compulsory exercise, it was found by the 
watchful military surgeons who examine recruits for the Army 
and Navy that the physique of the nation was tending to 
decline, and their warnings caused fresh interest to be taken 
in outdoor games. Schoolmasters were instructed to see 
that all their scholars took an adequate amount of exercise 
and to introduce games and sports. The teachers, always 
thorough, acquired books of rules, etc., and have done a great 
deal towards increasing the theoretical knowledge of sport 
among the young. 

The Ministry of Education grants a small sum every year 
for the purchase of prizes for pupils who have shown 
remarkable ability in games. 

This, however, did not help much towards the introduction 

of the competitive spirit. The real initiators of the growing 

sporting movement in Germany were Britons, 

Brit ° ns Showed who chanced either to be studying at the 
the Way. . j • v ■ 

German universities or engaged in business 

in some of the larger cities. 

Twenty years ago there was not an athletic sports federation 
in existence in Germany. There were at that time a few 
clubs, mostly supported by British residents. Berlin and 
Hamburg boasted of Association football elevens ; Frankfort 
and Hanover possessed Rugby fifteens ; while each of these 
four cities had a small athletic sports club — but that was all ! 

At the present day, there are powerful unions representing 

lawn tennis, swimming, wrestling, and athletic sports, all 

of which number in their ranks a few members 

Uni^Formed. of international reputation, such as O. 
Froitzheim and F. W. Rahe in tennis, Oscar 
Schiele in swimming, and Hans Braun on the running track. 
These are only mentioned because they are known in England, 
but there are others equally good who have not competed 
abroad. 

12— (2391) 



178 Germany of the Germans 

Both in the Army and Navy sports are making headway. 
Besides gymnastics with apparatus, in which the men are 
adepts in many cases, football, swimming, tug-of-war and 
fencing are much in favour and every year great progress is 
made. The authorities have even latterly so far departed 
from strict discipline as to allow soldiers in uniform to par- 
ticipate in a long-distance marching competition in which 
the competitors had to carry a full war kit. 

A glance at the different branches of sport and their standing 
is interesting as showing the progress made in the last two 
decades. 

Rowing was one of the first sports copied from the English, 
and the Germans have made rapid strides in the management 
of boats. Up to a very short time ago they 
continued to place their entire faith in British 
coaches. Recently, however, some of the leading clubs felt 
that they had acquired sufficient knowledge of the sport, and 
that the principal German exponents were adequately ex- 
perienced to rely on their own system of training. The 
English element has, therefore, been gradually but almost 
completely eliminated from the rowing clubs and a society 
of German rowing coaches has been founded, who place their 
services at the disposal of clubs all over the country. The 
effect of this assertion of independence remains to be seen. 
At any rate, it shows individuality. 

On all the principal streams are to be found boating clubs, 
capitally built boat-houses, and smart craft of the latest 
models. Berlin, Mannheim, Frankfort, Cologne, Bonn, 
Coblence, Konigsberg, Stettin, Hamburg, Mayence and 
Ludwigshafen all possess fine boating-clubs. According to 
the latest figures available, there are in all 286 rowing clubs 
with 37,038 active members, who have 4,876 craft of all styles 
at their disposal. 

Yachting has become a much-favoured pastime in con- 
sequence of the Emperor's patronage of the sport and his 
desire to establish a yachting week at Kiel that shall rival 



The Sporting Spirit 179 

Cowes. In spite of the existence of excellent German yachts, 
capable of competing with the best of other nations, the fact 
that the Kiel Yachting Week is conducted 
practically by the Navy and that the disci- 
pline of the Fleet is all-pervading, has not permitted the 
events to attain that popularity among international yachts- 
men which was expected. Every year the foreign entries 
decline in number, until they have almost disappeared, and 
yachtsmen from other countries have on various occasions 
expressed their conviction that the Kiel Week will never 
flourish while the discipline of the Navy is inflicted on the 
participants. 

The Emperor has certainly done everything in his power 

to make the Kiel Yachting Week a success. He has not only 

founded handsome prizes as an attraction to 

S£ er ° r s foreign yachtsmen, but he has continually 

participated in the races himself on board his 

yacht, the Meteor, with which he has won many prizes. 

He has hitherto confided the management of his yacht to a 

British skipper and a British crew, but he has decided that 

the new Meteor, now being built, shall be constructed entirely 

of German materials and be manned by German sailors. 

He feels it is his duty to show the nation, and more especially 

the yachting section, that a German vessel with German 

sailors can hold its own with those of any other nation. 

In the sailing of small yachts the German yachtsmen have 
attained remarkable skill and can compete with the best 
from any other country. They have excellent opportunities 
for this kind of sailing, owing to the extensive lakes spread 
about the Empire. There are over sixty sailing clubs with 
more than 10,000 members. 

A motor-boat club, formed in 1907, has already 350 mem- 
bers, possessing a flotilla numbering 107 vessels. Regattas 
have been organised for this class of vessel on Lake Constance, 
the lakes around Berlin, on the Rhine and at Kiel, but until 
now have not secured many entries. Some of the German 



180 Germany of the Germans 

motor-boats have, however, made names for themselves in 
races outside of Germany, at Monaco and Nice. 

Outdoor athletics are making perhaps more rapid progress 
of late years than any other kind of sport. There are as yet 

very few good sporting grounds, and the 

public does not exhibit extraordinary interest, 
but the movement is growing. In 1908 there were no fewer 
than 139 athletic meetings, comprising long-distance, sprint, 
hurdle and cross-country races, jumping, etc. The competi- 
tors numbered 10,526, some of them excellent performers. 
The only fault that can be found with the German sportsman 
is his tendency to enter frivolous objections against the winners. 
Lawn tennis, besides being the oldest foreign pastime 
practised in Germany, holds pride of place in the number ol 
.its devotees. The game is not confined to 

the clubs, which number 234 with over 16,000 
members, but the general public utilises the open courts, 
which are excellent, very extensively. Some of the German 
players have acquired world-wide reputations. 

Football is regarded by many of the younger generation of 
German officers as one of the best outdoor sports for cultivating 

the character and courage of the men, teaching 
C k t and them to combine and to sink personality, while 

at moments calling for the quickest decision 
and initiative. In virtually every regiment of the Army the 
game has been introduced. It is also widely practised both 
winter and summer in the vicinity of every big city. Some of the 
clubs have taken part in international matches, but hitherto 
with not much success. There are 433 Association clubs with 
24,462 members, and fifteen Rugby clubs with 1,104 members. 
Cricket has not yet made a strong appeal to German youth, 
but many clubs are in existence. 

In cycling Germany has always been able 

to hold her own. The clubs alone have 
115,507 members. Everybody cycles. The splendid roads 
appear to be specially made for the sport. 



The Sporting Spirit 181 

Skating is more or less natural to every German. The 
sharp cold winters usually experienced afford ample oppor- 
tunities to acquire the art. There are many skating clubs, 
which usually practise fancy skating. 

Swimming, also, is learned by nearly every man. All 
soldiers are marched down to an open-air bathing-place at 
least once a week, and almost invariably learn to swim while 
with their regiments. The lakes also afford capital oppor- 
tunities for practice. Municipal baths are not very numerous, 
but the city authorities almost always arrange facilities for 
bathing in the rivers. Swimming races are frequently held 
by the 212 clubs among their 26,259 members. 

Golf has only been introduced during the past ten years. 

Clubs are now being formed in many districts, where British 

professionals give instruction in the game. 

A golf association has been founded, which 

fourteen clubs have joined, and the championship of Germany 

is played for every year. 

Fencing is not greatly practised outside of the Army and the 
universities. There are, however, nearly fifty fencing clubs 
in the Empire. The Italian method is generally adopted. 

Motoring is extensively patronised, not only for racing, but 
for touring. There are twenty-eight motor clubs with 4,175 
members. 

Ballooning has also taken hold as a sport, more especially 
since Germany has made such progress with steerable 
airships. The nine existing aeronautical clubs comprise 2,775 
members. 

Horse-racing does not occupy much attention among the 

working classes. Betting is prohibited, except by means 

of the totalisator, which is controlled on all 

Beltine^ cours es by the Government, and from the 

gross takings of which a large percentage is 

deducted for public purposes. 

The Government, however, provides a method of gambling 
in the public lotteries and also by authorising lotteries for all 



182 Germany of the Germans 

sorts of purposes, a percentage of the receipts going to the 
public exchequer in the way of stamp duties. 

The German has not hitherto written many stirring pages 

in the history of outdoor sporting games, but in his own way 

of amusing himself he performs wonders. 

German Often during his holidays, without any 

Amusements. ° J J 

training, he will start off with several com- 
panions, perhaps old Army comrades, and march, with his 
sack full of clothes and food on his back, twenty-five to 
thirty-five miles a day for a week, putting up at village inns 
at night and probably playing at nine-pins for a couple of 
hours before retiring. 

This is often the method adopted by groups of members 
of working men's gymnastic societies, who, as a rule, have not 
the wherewithal to go to a watering-place or mountain resort. 

Very often, too, the national military spirit asserts itself long 
after men have left the Army. One can see parties of men 
past middle age following the Army manoeuvres and keeping up 
with the active troops in a remarkable manner, at the expense 
of a deal of perspiration certainly, but always on hand to 
watch interesting operations, which they discuss among 
themselves with the greatest interest. 

Shooting, also, is a pastime to which much time is devoted. 
Game is very plentiful and licences are cheap. Besides the 
chase, a large number of rifle clubs provide 
opportunities to display marksmanship. The 
last statistics enumerate 752 rifle clubs with 24,310 members, 
but there are undoubtedly many more. Rifle contests are 
very frequent all over the country. The Imperial Chancellor, 
Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, recently issued a decree accord- 
ing to all the societies of veterans the right to utilise the 
military ranges for rifle practice, and granting them the right 
to draw rifles of the most recent pattern from the Army 
arsenals for a very small fee. The societies are also provided 
with ammunition from the Army stores at cost price. In this 
way the members of the societies, most of whom are still liable 



The Sporting Spirit 183 

to be called upon for service in the reserve, are enabled to 

maintain constant shooting efficiency. As there are between 

two and three million men belonging to these societies, the 

Government has, at small expense, thus secured a body of 

trained men, who are ready at any moment to take their 

places in the ranks with very little necessity for further 

training. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting forms of amusement 

of the average skilled city artisan and small shopkeeper in 

summer is the renting of a small plot of land 

Summer j n ^ e suburbs of the town. Many thousands 
Colonies. J 

of these plots are let round Berlin at a nominal 

rent by the building companies while they are awaiting 

development. Thither the artisan goes with his family every 

Sunday, taking their food with them, and all work together 

to erect the hut which is to be their Sunday home. It is 

regarded as a matter of pride that no one outside of the 

family shall assist in planning or erecting the hut. As soon 

as it is finished, a flag is run up on a small mast, and the 

summer home is christened with a fine-sounding name. Then 

the family sets to work at gardening. 

Sometimes there are as many as 5,000 of these plots in the 

same vicinity, and the sight with all the flags flying is very 

picturesque. Enormous interest is taken by the authorities 

in this movement, which is considered to have done a great 

deal to correct the tendency to intemperance. The Empress 

gives prizes every year for the best hut in the various districts, 

and church societies also encourage the idea. 



CHAPTER XX 

WOMAN'S POSITION AND PROSPECTS 

Perhaps the two qualities that can with the greatest truth 
be ascribed to the German woman are tidiness and thrift. 
Whether she be the wife of the rich country 
Oualitie/"* n °bl e > tne wealthy manufacturer, the com- 
fortable official, or the working man, she 
always possesses these valuable endowments. Others, of 
course, she has, but they are so varied in the different spheres 
of life, in country and in town, that they cannot be described 
in general. 

There is a stratum of society, even in Germany, where the 
women as well as the men devote themselves to amusements, 
the search for sensation, extravagant dress, and all-round 
display ; but this is to be found only in the big cities, and 
the class is very limited, although from its presence at every 
public place of entertainment it is thought to be much more 
extensive than it is. 

The Empress is an excellent example of the German woman 

— with simple tastes in all directions, a good 

E^amolV housewife, religious, modest, yet possessing 

many accomplishments. 

The real German woman is to be found in her home, where 

she devotes herself to her usually large family. 

As a housewife she can without doubt take her place with 
any other woman in the world. She is absolutely devoted 
to her home and her children, and always contrives, in 
whatever station she finds herself, to live within the family 
income. 

It is quite an event in the life of the ordinary married woman 
for her to go to a restaurant to dine, even when she lives in 

184 




THE KAISERIN AND HER DAUGHTER 



Woman's Position and Prospects 185 

town, after the first few years of marriage. The single girls 

and younger married women are, on the other hand, devoted 

to out-of-door life and to the concert and 

An Uneventful theatre. As a rule, however, they are satisfied 

if their sweethearts or husbands take them 

to a beer-garden, a concert, a popular cheap performance at 

the theatre, or to the circus, which is in great renown in 

Germany. 

Usually very modest in dress, and with apparently little 
conception of colour-effects, the German girl and woman 
do not always take the place that rightly belongs to them 
in the matter of looks. There is no doubt, however, that 
they possess, as a rule, good complexions and physical 
development, although in too many cases they destroy the 
effect by copying the stiff walk of the soldiers. 

The education of the German woman is, as a rule, fairly 
thorough. Those of the working classes naturally do not 
generally pass beyond the stage of elementary 
Ed r ° U f d scno °l> whence they have to turn out at 
fourteen years of age to earn a living or to 
help their parents keep the house. Even of this class, how- 
ever, some attend the continuation schools. The middle and 
wealthy classes usually carry their studies farther and are in 
some cases as far advanced as their brethren who attend the 
classical schools and the universities. 

All of them, to whatever class of society they belong, are 
adepts in housekeeping, as, besides the practical instruction 
their mothers insist on at home, there are admirable special 
classes in housework connected with all schools. Well 
frequented household economy schools for women have been 
established in Prussia, Bavaria, Baden and Wiirttemberg, 
where girls and women receive instruction in cooking, preserv- 
ing, washing, ironing, house-cleaning, gardening, poultry, bee 
and small animal breeding, milking, handwork, clothes-cutting, 
gymnastics and singing, botany, chemistry, hygiene, and 
household book-keeping. Even at the theatre and concert 



186 Germany of the Germans 

it is a common sight to see German girls and women knitting 

stockings or doing crochet work. 

The accomplishments of the German woman outside of the 

working class are very varied. Singing and piano-playing 

are regarded as necessary acquirements, and 

A ^ e f , many a time a girl with a voice worthy of the 

Accomplishments. J ° . . J 

best opera merely uses it in her home or at 
the houses of friends. 

Some kinds of sport are much cultivated by the women of 
the leisured classes, tennis, swimming, cycling and skating 
being very general. 

Until a girl is engaged to be married, she is kept under the 
strictest supervision by her parents, and treated almost as a 
child. Her opportunities for intercourse with boys and men 
are very restricted. 

A girl cannot marry without her parents' consent, and even 
with it, if she is a minor at her marriage, she remains under 
the legal guardianship of her parents, although the duty is 
usually transferred to her husband. 

The choice of a husband is almost invariably made by the 

parents, who in the majority of cases have taken care to 

ascertain full details of the young man's 

C H° 1C b °d a f° r tune or prospects. There is very little 

sentiment connected with the arrangement 

of an engagement, but when it has been entered into it is 

considered almost as binding as a marriage, and may not be 

broken with impunity. The young couple are then left to 

become better acquainted in the usually short interval before 

the solemnization of the wedding, which in Germany is a civil 

contract, although the majority of people insist on the church 

ceremony afterwards. 

Notwithstanding her undoubted qualities in many direc- 
tions, the German wife does not seem to be gifted with a great 
amount of self-reliance. Perhaps this lack is a legacy from 
the period, not so long since, when she was considered in every 
way inferior to the men. Even at the present day it is a very 



Woman's Position and Prospects 187 

rare occurrence, although she may possess every aptitude, for 
her to be permitted to share in the business cares of her 
husband, who would only as a very last resource turn to her 
for counsel. 

Only with the beginning of the twentieth century did the 

German woman awake to a sense of her own dignity. She 

had until then been looked down upon by her 

Recent j orc j an( ^ mas ^- er — f or suc j 1 j n verity he was — 

Awakening. . . . J . 

as an inferior being. Her rights were limited ; 

her duties manifold. At the present day, when most of her 
restrictions have been removed, she still remains the unex- 
acting and often too self-sacrificing being she has always been. 
She has not quite learned that she is the equal of man, although 
practically all the professions have been thrown open to her, 
and she is placed on a theoretically equal standing with the 
men students at nearly all the universities. 

When, however, it is considered that until January 1st, 

1900, the rights of woman in Germany were restricted to a 

scarcely conceivable degree, it will be under- 

R t °^- er stood why she has not yet taken advantage 
to the fullest extent of the liberties which have 
since been accorded to her. Till that date, according to the 
law of most of the Federal States, a German woman could 
not act as head of the family, even though her husband was 
dead. She was only permitted to a limited extent to exercise 
the duties of a guardian. Without the express permission 
of a court of law she could not begin legal proceedings of any 
kind. She was not allowed to serve as legal witness at a 
marriage and could not sign her name as a witness to a will. 
However, women who were engaged independently in business 
were not subjected to all these restrictions. 

In most instances all the real and personal property of a 
woman on her marriage passed under the direct control of her 
husband, although he was forced in the case of real property 
to obtain her consent if he wished to dispose of or mortgage it. 
At the present day all this is changed. A married woman 



188 Germany of the Germans 

may enter into contracts in her own right. She must, however, 
submit to her husband's wishes as to residence. She is bound 
to look after the household and to assist in 
SS3S. to husband's bus:ness, if such assistance is 
necessary and usual in the class to which the 
persons belong. In return she has the right to be kept by 
her husband according to his means, and in case of his neglect 
she may take legal means to attach the necessary money 
for the purpose from his salary or income. She also retains 
all rights over her own real and personal property unless the 
marriage contract expressly stipulates otherwise ; but she 
may be prevented by her husband from disposing of it in 
an extravagant manner. Her separate earnings are her own 
property to dispose of as she desires, but she must, if able, 
support her husband in case of necessity so as to prevent him 
becoming a public charge. 

Formerly only the father had legal authority over his 
children, but now both parents are placed 

Pa Equal? 0W on an equal footing. 

Women have also been accorded more free- 
dom in regard to politics, as they may now attend political 
meetings, which was forbidden until a few years ago. They may 
not vote, however, and cannot be elected to a public office, 
except as guardians of the poor and orphans in some districts. 

The Imperial statistical office has recently issued a pamphlet 
dealing with women's organisations in Germany. The figures 
given do not indicate any formidable movement in favour of an 
extension of political rights to the sex. The Society for 
Securing Votes for Women numbers only 2,242 women and 
216 men in its membership. There are also a few independent 
groups of women who have the same object in view. The 
Women's Navy League and the Women's Colonial League 
are the only other organisations of women with any sug- 
gestion of a political object. The first of these comprises 
5,500 members and helps considerably in spreading the 
propaganda for a great navy. 



Woman's Position and Prospects 189 

There exists, however, a large number of women's societies 
for social and religious work. The Union of Women's Societies, 
which dates from 1894, comprises over 830 
S ^d s 16 ^ t" s se P ara ^ e bodies, with a total membership of 
over 200,000. They are making rapid pro- 
gress in influencing the method of carrying out the Poor Law, 
whose administration, however, is almost entirely in the 
hands of men, who have hitherto offered strenuous opposition 
to the selection of women guardians. 

Other important bodies of women devote their energies 

to church and charitable work, among the chief organisations 

being the Red Cross Society, with 452,000 

other members, the German Evangelical Women's 

Organisations. D 

Union, with 182,500 members, the Catholic 

Women's Society and the German Federation for the Improve- 
ment of Women's Clothing, the German Union for the 
Protection of Mothers and the Evangelical Girls' Federation. 

Women's professional societies are represented by the 
Society for the Welfare of Teachers, with 38,000 female 
members ; the General Women Teachers' Society with 23,000 ; 
the Catholic Women and Girl Clerks' Society with 22,000 ; 
the Catholic Women Workers' Society with 12,000 ; the 
Commercial Women's Society with 10,000 ; and several others. 

Social work societies exist for the propagation of abstinence, 
for the legal protection of women, and for actresses and female 
theatrical employees. 

Charitable societies comprise the Deaconesses' Union, 
the Girls' Homes Society, and many others. Educational 
work is carried on by the Froebel Society, the Women's 
Educational Society, and the Society for Women's Schools of 
Household Economy. 

Altogether over a million women are organised in one way 
or another, and, although they have hitherto left politics alone, 
the Government keeps the future in view, as is shown by the 
fact that it has begun to count the strength of existing women's 
societies. 



190 Germany of the Germans 

Women are becoming more prominent in trade and com- 
merce of late years. The last figures available, those for 
December, 1907, show that, exclusive of 

Becoming domestic servants, over 5,700,000 women 
Prominent , , . ,. . , . . , 

in Trade. were employed in agriculture, industries and 

commerce. Of these no fewer than 2,720,000 

were engaged in agriculture, 1,577,000 in factories, 512,000 

as shopwomen in trade (including the beer and wine trades, 

where they work as waitresses, etc.), and the remainder as 

clerks, etc. There were also 1,234,121 women in business for 

themselves. 

The liberal professions present many difficulties for women ; 
but, in spite of these, there are at the present moment between 
fifty and sixty women doctors in independent practice in 
Germany, and many more are studying medicine and walking 
the hospitals. In several municipalities the school and police 
authorities have engaged lady doctors. Five lady jurists 
have been admitted to the bar. At Mannheim Commercial 
High School a lady has recently been appointed to a profes- 
sorial chair — the first in this country to be occupied by a 
woman. Lady librarians are rather numerous, counting 206, 
and are constantly increasing in numbers. In Berlin a lady 
architect enjoys considerable practice and Hamburg possesses 
a lady engineer. 

In the Government service there are also many women 
employed, more especially in the telephone and telegraph 
departments. Recently a new departure has been made 
by engaging female searchers in the police and customs 
service. 

This flocking of women into trades is not altogether attri- 
butable to the greater freedom conferred on the sex. Much of 
it is occasioned by the ever-increasing cost 

W( to ne Work Ced °* art i c l es °* necessity, which have so risen 

in price that the wages of the working man 

do not suffice for the needs of his family, and the wife is 

virtually compelled to go out to work. When the fact is 



Woman's Position and Prospects 191 

mentioned in this connection that according to the Govern- 
ment's returns the income of 51 per cent, of the men in 
Germany does not reach £45 annually and of another 40 
per cent, ranges between £45 and £150, the need for the women 
to turn out is quite apparent. 

A few figures gathered by the Municipal Statistical Office 
in Berlin in the course of an inquiry as to women's earnings 
tell a very vivid tale. Women employed in the metal and 
machine trades were found to average £19 3s. a year ; packers, 
£20 17s. ; silver polishers, £26 to £32 10s. ; textile workers, 
£27 12s. ; seamstresses in leather, £13 10s. to £30 ; workers in 
chocolate factories, £22 5s. to £30 ; mantle sewers, £19; boys' 
suit makers, £15, and glove-makers, £20. These were all 
grown women and not girls. 

A very useful service is being rendered to women by the 
Society for the Instruction and Study of Women, which has 
opened in virtually every large city an 
A Useful information office, where women may apply 
for information as to any trade or calling 
which they desire to take up. The directress of each informa- 
tion office, on the receipt of an inquiry with return postage 
paid, gives hints as to where instruction in the branch selected 
may be had, the cost and length of time for learning, the 
prospects of receiving positions, and the salary to be expected. 
It was only in the last decade of the nineteenth century that 
the higher education of woman received any serious attention. 
In 1894 the first public schools were founded 
Ed lg f which permitted girls to study for matricula- 

tion. Then followed, some years later, the 
promotion of the girls' high schools to the same standing as 
those for boys. Now virtually all the universities admit 
female undergraduates, but women are not permitted as yet 
to occupy the highest teaching posts or professorial chairs. 
There is at present a movement towards raising the status 
of the nursing profession, which has hitherto not attracted 
the women of the better classes. 



192 Germany of the Germans 

The conditions prevailing in the nursing profession in 
Germany are probably accountable for this. The nurse in the 
public hospital has not hitherto occupied the high social 
standing she deserves. She has rather been looked upon as 
a domestic servant, and consequently highly-educated women 
would not take up the profession. The work, too, has been 
made much more severe for her than in other countries, and at 
the same time the emoluments are low. The better class of 
women among the Protestants go into deaconesses' homes 
or become Sisters of the Red Cross, while the Catholic women 
become nuns, and in this way they ensure themselves far more 
respect than as ordinary nurses. There are 20,000 nuns, 
14,000 deaconesses, and 7,000 other nursing sisters in the 
German Empire. 



CHAPTER XXI 

LITERARY SEARCHINGS 

It can scarcely be said with any truth of Germany that there 

is a real school or style of literature at the present day. Much 

writing is done, many books are read, each 

ShT 7 author says what he has to say in a more or 

less interesting way, and — makes as much as 

he can out of his work. 

To assert that all writers, without exception, have only a 
material end in view would, of course, be going much too 
far. There are naturally many who imagine that they have 
a mission to tell something to the world, and try to fulfil their 
task ; but these often find that they have not expressed their 
thoughts in a way that is appreciated by the public. 

The direction of modern German literature is not yet fully 

decided upon. All kinds of currents run through the stream. 

The influence of Goethe, Schiller, Heine 

Und eC *d° d anc * Nietzsche holds much sway. The works 

of Emile Zola are taken in some quarters 

as models. Ibsen has had considerable effect. Tolstoi has 

many followers. Germany is, in fact, with the help of all 

these masters, seeking to work out a literary tendency. 

In the mass of books offered to the German public in 

recent times there is certainly much that is unworthy 

and banal, sensational and unnatural ; but 

Unworthy 1S t ^ iere * s a ^ so mucn tnat ls interesting and 

well written. 
Romantic novels take a leading place in public favour, 
and are turned out by hundreds. Despite the feebleness 
of the greater proportion of these works, they are eagerly 
snapped up. In their general character, although there are 
brilliant exceptions, they display a tendency to gross exag- 
geration in the direction of realism and to the destruction of 

193 

13— (2391) 



194 Germany of the Germans 

idealism. Most of the writers have drawn their original 
inspiration from French, Russian and Norwegian sources ; 
but it must be said that their efforts to walk in the same lines 
as their masters are not very successful. Their so-called 
realism nearly always overflows into impossible distortion. 
There are, however, now signs of a better conception of nature 
among the leading writers of romance and thus there is hope 
for better things in store. 

The authors in many, if not most, instances make the 

mistake of dealing with problems which interest their own 

little sphere, but do not affect the rest of the 

Uninteresting wov \^ one a t m. Some of the many books 

of this kind are read by the general public 
from a feeling of curiosity, but that is all. The solution of the 
problems dealt with does not lead anywhere in the world at 
large. The modern reader is more interested in the move- 
ments going on around him, in the strivings towards advance- 
ment of the millions who form the various great classes which 
make up the world. The exotic cliques so often dealt with 
in books offer him only a momentary and undesirable 
distraction. 

Until late in the eighties, German modern literature was, 
with very few exceptions, worthy of very little notice. Most 
of the productions were very poor imitations of old classics. 
The few authors who showed any signs of individuality were 
lost in the crowd. Ernst von Wildenbruch, Wilhelm Busch, 
Theodor Fontane and Wilhelm Raabe were among the 
limited number of stars visible in the literary firmament. 

Then literature began to emerge from the depths of deca- 
dence into which it had sunk and to shake itself free of the 

weeds which had coiled themselves around it. 
°D °th the ^ e P u ^ nc demanded something fresh and 

tangible, and received in response many 

realistic works, which soon, however, went beyond the bounds. 

The literary market was flooded with problem novels, 

dealing with medical and psychological studies, many of them 



Literary Searchings 195 

to the utmost degree crude and in some instances absolutely 
repulsive. 

The new movement, however, produced two men at least 

who stand out above all others at the present moment in 

German literature — namely, Gerhard Haupt- 

Result of the mann an( q Hermann Sudermann, both of 
New Movement. . ' 

whom are dramatists as well as novelists. 

Sudermann is probably the best story-teller in modern 
German literature, and has well earned the laurels with which 
he has been crowned both for his novels and his plays. He 
leaned towards the modernist school some time before the new 
movement took definite shape. " Iolanthe's Hochzeit " is 
one of his masterpieces, but in nearly all of his works he reaches 
a very high standard of merit. Some of them indicate that 
he sits at the feet of the great French romancists, but what 
he has learnt from them he has known how to fit in with his 
own ideas, which are abundant and varied. 

Gerhard Hauptmann is more of a dramatist than a novelist, 

and his many excellent plays are dealt with in connection 

with the progress of the German theatre. 

Some Modern Several other authors soon found consider- 
Autnors. 

able fame after the ball of the modern 

movement had been set rolling. 

Arno Holz was one of the first to fall into line with the new 
school. He has had considerable success with some of his 
novels, but he is much more at home in his lyrics, which give 
evidence of great power. 

Johannes Schlaf is also a modernist, and one of the ultra- 
realistic school. He is poet as well as novelist, and has also 
written drama, but it is as novelist that he has made his name. 

Michael Georg Conrad was the leader of the Southern German 
modern literary revolt. His ideas are extremely 

The Revolt hern advanced. This is shown in the many novels 
and romances he has written, most of them 
dealing with imaginary future states and human conditions. 

Among writers of the less modern school Wilhelm Raabe 



196 Germany of the Germans 

secured a considerable army of followers. His works are 

imitations of Dickens. He shows extraordinary versatility 

in his productions, which, although full of pessimistic thought, 

are crammed with good-humour. 

The recently deceased Ernst von Wildenbruch enjoyed 

widespread popularity. He was a very prolific author of 

epics and lyrics, novels and plays, several 

A ™? r -? of which have been translated into other 

Writer. 

languages. 
The late Georg Ebers, whose romances deal mostly with 
Egyptian themes, was and still is widely read. 

Theodor Fontane wrote many vigorous romantic novels, 
which are still read with the greatest interest. 

Wilhelm Busch made a great name as a humourist. His 

" Max and Moritz " is known the world over. It would be 

impossible to mention all the books he has 

H Writer s US Published, all of which are filled with the 

same spirit of humour or satire. 

Hans Hoffmann's novels are full of quiet humour and 

excellent descriptions of nature. 

Heinrich Seidel also holds a proud position among humorous 
writers. His best-known work, " Suburban Stories," is 
overflowing with wit and sparkles with intelligence. Other 
of his books enjoy widespread popularity. 

Kurt Aram is a writer of satirical sketches, and also author 

of several humorous works. He has produced a comedy, 

" The Agrarian Committee," which met with great success. 

Detlev von Liliencron attained much success in latter years 

with his books of verse ; but, although many of his poems 

make pretty reading, it is to be feared that 

?.^! lev they will not live lone. His romances, many 

von Liliencron. J . D J 

of which are of a military character, as 
beseems a former army officer, are extremely well written. 

Franz Adam Beyerlein achieved remarkable popularity 
with his " Jena oder Sedan," which has many literary qualities 
besides that of holding the public interest. 




HERR HERMANN SUN DERM ANN 



Literary Searchings 197 

Otto Ernst is at once poet, dramatist and novelist. He has 
a pretty touch of humour in many of his works and at times 
waxes very satirical. 

Gustav Freytag, who started out to write works dealing 

with social questions, of which his " Soil und Haben " is a 

good example, turned later to historical 
An Historical romance . His « Ahnen » and « Bilder aus 
Romancist. 

der deutschen Vergangenheit " were perhaps 

his best efforts. In the latter series he foreshadowed the 

future of the German Empire in a remarkable way. 

Professor Felix Dahn devoted himself to the historical 
novel, and his " Kampf um Rom " has become a German 
classic. His other efforts have not, however, reached any- 
thing like the same degree of talent. Some of his verse at 
the time of the French war found great admiration. 

Gustav Frenssen, a Protestant pastor, is a religious author 

whose stories have brought him an enormous following 

from end to end of Germany. Some of his 

Religious works have run into editions of hundreds of 

thousands, the most popular of them being 

" Jorn Uhl." 

Wilhelm Bolsche is a philosophical writer of capital style 
and diction, who has attracted much attention by his scientific 
studies of nature. 

Otto Julius Bierbaum, who died early in 1910, was more of 
a critic and essayist than a novelist. His smaller efforts are 
remarkably clever and entertaining. 

Stories of war are not very numerous by modern German 
writers, but Carl Bleibtreu gained much note for his excellent 
_ efforts in that branch of literature. He has 

written, besides his works on " Cromwell," 
" The German Arms in Spain," and a book on " Frederick 
the Great," several novels and dramas, all of which display 
power. He was one of the leaders of the modern movement. 

Ernst von Wildenbruch also published some books of 
military adventure, such as " Vionville " and " Sedan." 



198 Germany of the Germans 

Heinrich von Kleist, too, in his " Prince of Homburg " and 
" Hermannschlacht," dealt with deeds of war. 

Dietrich Grabbe's " Duke of Gothland," " Kaiser Friedrich 
Barbarossa," " Kaiser Heinrich der Sechste " and " Napoleon, 
or the 100 Days," are stirring tales. 

Paul Heyse, even as an octogenarian, had a heart that was 

always young. He idolises woman in all his works and 

recognises her strength. He was ever an 

One of the best society novelists is Karl 
Bulcke, who is a State attorney. He is rather impressionist, 
but very romantic. 

Walter Bloem, Rudolf Herzog, and Joseph Lauff have all 
gained laurels in romantic literature, and their works are 
eagerly read throughout Germany. 

The list of less-known authors is almost endless. A few 
of those who stand out as having acquired a more or less 
lasting reputation are Stefan George, S. Friedlander, Max 
Dauthendey, Gustav Schiiler, and Georg von Ompteda. 

A real army of women has of recent years taken up the pen, 
but until now few of them have won leading 
Women positions in the literary field. 

Helene Bohlau is the authoress of numerous 
novels, some of which are well worthy of the popularity they 
have acquired. Her principal romance is " Der Rangierbahn- 
hof," and in this, as in most of the others, she gives a vivid 
picture of the strivings of womankind towards emancipation. 

Frida, Freiin von Btilow is a hard-working novelist, who is 
always before the public eye. Her works are noted for their 
fine studies of aristocratic characters. 

Ida Boy-Ed, another voluminous writer, confines her 
attention entirely to love stories. 

Elizabeth von Heyking has gathered a circle of admirers 
through several artistically written books. 

Johanna Ambrosius's works are very good examples of real 
womanliness. 



Literary Searchings 199 

The spirit of the times, which has been so much occupied 
with material progress, has rather left lyrical art out in the 
cold and neglect. The demand for poetry has in 
recent years been so small that poets have been 
discouraged. The poetical nature of the German is not dead, 
however ; it is only sleeping until the strivings necessitated 
by the universal struggle for commercial supremacy slacken. 

Shortly after the war of 1870 poets broke loose in every 
part of the Empire and in every class of society with patriotic 
verse, which at the time was received with jubilation ; but 
much of it had only a short life and has since been forgotten. 
Rudolf Baumbach, Julius Sturm, Theodor Fontane, Oskar 
von Redwitz, Ernst Curtius and Heinrich von Treitschke 
were among the best known of these poets. 

Martin Greif stands in a class by himself as a modern lyric 
poet. His verses are full of colour and fire. They are written 
A L <r p w ^h a certainty, a naturalness and a fineness 
not attained by any other German poet of 
the present day. He expresses the sentiments of love, desire, 
passion, triumph, sorrow and sympathy in a remarkable 
manner. His ballads appeal to a large circle. His literary 
activity in his later years has somewhat declined. He has 
never accomplished any work of great dramatic note. 

Julius Wolff is also a widely read poet. Among his best- 
known works are " Eulenspiegel Redivivus," " Der Wilde 
Jager " and " Der Rattenf anger von Hameln." 

Gustav Schiiler is the author of a number of volumes of 
verse, much of which is devoted to folk-song, in which he 
expresses himself with admirable clearness and force. Much 
of his poetry is of a deep religious character. 

Levin Ludwig Schiicking is the worthy scion of a poetical 

family. His grandfather, Levin Schiicking, 

Family ^ad ma de the name well known many years 

ago. Many of the young poet's verses 

show remarkable talent, especially those descriptive of his 

native province of Westphalia. 



200 Germany of the Germans 

Ferdinand Avenarius, as a writer of lyrics, has won con- 
siderable fame. His " Stimmen und Bilder " is perhaps his 
best work. 

Richard Dehmel is a poet rather inclined to the decadent 
school, but whose writings show immense variety and a 
splendid mastery of language. 

Gustav Falke has published several striking volumes of 
verse, remarkable for their simplicity and beauty. 

One of the coming poets is a young man named Alfons 
Paquet, who has already published several volumes of talented 
verse. He has written many songs and also a series of poems 
on life in a great city, which reproduce in a remarkable manner 
scenes which he has witnessed. 

The immense production of books and periodical works 

in Germany can be judged from the statistics published 

by the Booksellers' Exchange, which states 

Pr0 B U o C ok°s n ° f that from J ul y lj 1907 ' t0 J une 30 ' 1908 ' no 
fewer than 30,718 books and other publica- 
tions were issued in the German Empire. In Berlin alone 
during that period 7,775 works were published, in Leipzig 
6,070, in Stuttgart 1,832 and in Munich 1,505. 

The extent to which books are sold in Germany by house- 
to-house colporteurs is enormous. There are on the official 
registers no less than 80,000 of these persons who make a 
permanent profession of calling from door to door for orders 
for books on the instalment system, and, according to different 
estimates, they succeed in making sales to the value of from 
£2,500,000 to £4,000,000 annually. Most of the so-called 
" literary " matter thus spread among the people is of the 
paltriest kind, and many efforts have been made to stop its 
circulation by means of cheap editions of good authors. The 
evil continues, however, to spread, and it has much to answer 
for in connection with the demoralization of the youth of both 
sexes. 

Despite the fact that Germany is such a land of books, the 
smallness of the number of public libraries is somewhat 



Literary Searchings 201 

surprising. If statistics are correct, there are only 190 of 
these useful institutions in the Empire. The total number 
of volumes contained therein is 23,456,200, 
Public or a b ou t one volume to every three inhabi- 

tants. The reason of this poverty of libraries 
is the small amounts placed at their disposal by the State and 
municipal authorities, which limits their extension and the 
acquisition of new works. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE PRESS AND ITS INFLUENCE 

In spite of the facts that the art of printing was originated in' 

Germany and that the first newspaper was certainly printed 

there, it cannot be said that the German Press 

Position S now n °ld s sucn an important position in the 
world as that of several other countries. 

What it lacks in quality, however, it makes up for by its 
ample quantity, for the number of newspapers and periodicals 
is very considerable. The last figures to hand show that 
there are 7,748 newspapers on the postal list, 4,336 of which 
are dailies and 3,412 weeklies or monthlies. 

The first real newspaper published under that title appeared 

in Augsburg in 1505 with the name of Copia der Newen 

Zeitung aus Bresilg Land. This, however, 

N woatM- k a( l Deen preceded by many " Fly Leaves." 

Strassburg possessed a newspaper in 1609, 

Frankfort-on-Main in 1615, Berlin in 1617, Nuremberg in 

1620, Hildesheim in 1621, Augsburg and Munich in 1627 

and Hamburg in 1628. 

The enterprise then shown has not, as a rule, extended to 
the present day. This is perhaps accounted for by the fact 
that until late last century — till 1889, to be exact — the Press 
was subject to repressive surveillance by the authorities, 
who feared its enlightening influence. Socialist papers were 
forbidden altogether, but they filtered through from England 
and Switzerland and made more converts to the party in 
consequence of the prohibition than if they had been entirely 
free, for they passed from hand to hand in secret and were 
read with much zest by the working classes, who were told by 
the writers that they were being oppressed. 

202 



The Press and its Influence 203 

Newspapers are still placed under many restrictions as to 
what they may publish, and the decision as to the news given 

does not rest in all cases in the hands of the 
R JfijS editors. They are prohibited, for instance, 

under severe penalties, from giving reports of 
divorce cases and of military and naval arrangements, the 
publication of which might divulge to a possible enemy the 
Governmental plans. These restrictions are for the good of 
the nation from several points of view, and it would be well if 
they were extended to reports of immoral scandals, which 
cannot effect any good purpose. This latter point has 
recently been taken into consideration by the Ministry, and a 
bill has been introduced dealing with the matter, for it has been 
found that the long detailed descriptions of vicious practices 
given by the journals tend to their spread instead of leading 
to their extinction. 

The development of the Press has been greatly retarded by 
the lack of a Press tariff for telegrams. News which in other 

countries would be immediately telegraphed 
N ?ariff SS at ^ u ^ length by special correspondents from 

the provinces and abroad is in many cases 
sent by letter, so that the public often waits twenty-four hours 
and longer for the details of events which have occurred in the 
country itself, not to mention the delay that occurs in the 
arrival of news from distant lands. 

Hitherto, however, the German public has not expressed 
any great desire for " hot " telegraphic news. The average 
German is usually content to wait and may often be seen 
reading the newspaper of yesterday with apparent relish. 

It must be said that there are several brilliant exceptions 
from the general tardiness of the German Press. The Lokal 

Anzeiger and the Tageblatt of Berlin, the 

Some Brilliant Cologne Gazette, the Frankfurt Gazette, and 
Newspapers. b . ' . . __ ' . ' . , 

newspapers in Leipzig, Hamburg and Municn 

may be reckoned as really up-to-date newspapers, which 

spend enormous amounts on obtaining rapid news services 



204 Germany of the Germans 

and maintain brilliant correspondents in all parts of the 
world. They have launched out in a manner which would not 
have been dreamed of a few years ago. 

The circulation of German newspapers in general has not 
attained very great proportions. This is accounted for by 
the fact that most of them are sold by sub- 
Small 1011 scription. Until very recent years there was 
scarcely any street sale, but this is now being 
changed by the erection of newspaper kiosks at the busiest 
points of the great cities. Even at the present day newspaper 
publishers have experienced that when they issue a special 
edition recording the happening of an event which interests 
the whole world they find very few purchasers, and, as a matter 
of fact, the " extras " are nearly always given away. 

The standing of the Press in the opinion of the public authori- 
ties is not very high. It is said that the Emperor 
Officials and holds <fae German newspapers and journalists in 
small esteem, but he frequently receives and 
converses freely with foreign journalists of distinction. 

The leading statesmen of Germany have in many instances 
utilised the Press to put their views before the world. Bis- 
marck was, for instance, closely identified with the Hamburger 
Nachrichten throughout his career. Von Biilow inspired 
many articles of political importance, which appeared over 
the names of well-known journalists, but whose contents 
were recognised as emanating from the late Chancellor. 

The Foreign Office has an organ of the Press always at its 
disposal in the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, and much of 
the political information, more particularly in reference to 
foreign affairs, that appears in the Koelnische Zeitung emanates 
directly from high official quarters. 

The Press Bureau of the Foreign Office, which always 

obtains its orders from the Imperial Chancellor, 

The Press directly or indirectly, does not enjoy the entire 

confidence of either Press or public, which 

have both come to regard the information given out by it 



The Press and its Influence 205 

as tainted with the intention of leading public opinion to 
the view desired by the Government, and not giving the 
news to the public as news on which the people themselves 
should form an opinion. 

Another organ for the dissemination of official views is the 
Berlin Correspondence, which is edited in the Ministries and 
contains official information, besides correcting assertions 
made by the daily newspapers. This sheet is forwarded free 
to any newspaper applying for it. 

The only news agency in Germany worthy of serious con- 
sideration is that known as Wolff's Telegraphic Bureau, which 
holds a semi-official position and is closely connected with the 
great news agencies of every country in the world. It is in 
reality the only source of foreign news for the majority of the 
newspapers, to which it supplies a very extensive news service. 
German journalists, as a rule, are not well known in foreign 
countries, although they usually sign their articles. Maxi- 
milian Harden's name is, however, known in 
German virtually every quarter of the globe as that 
of a brilliant journalist who, when he tackles 
a problem of public interest, whether political or otherwise, 
thrashes it out without fear or favour. In his periodical, Die 
Zukunft, he deals with all public questions in a way that can only 
be recognised as masterful. His political standpoint is that of 
Bismarck, with whom he was on the most intimate terms. He 
is popularly supposed to have brought about the fall of the 
Imperial Chancellor, Count von Capri vi, by his writings. He is a 
critic who strikes hard, and the sting of his pen is feared greatly 
by those who put themselves in a position open to an attack. 

There are, of course, many other excellent journalists on 
the various newspapers, but their fame is mostly local. Pro- 
fessor Schiemann, who writes almost exclu- 
Locaf" 16 sively on foreign affairs, is often quoted when 
an international crisis is raging. 
The German journalist is a very hard worker and, having 
in most cases enjoyed a university education, is also a good 



206 Germany of the Germans 

writer. His ideas on the subject of news-getting are, however, 
somewhat different from those obtaining in other countries. 
In recording the news of the day he is inclined to put far more 
of his own personality into the report than is really warranted. 
He labours under difficulties which are not met with by 
his colleagues in other countries. The police of Germany 

afford him absolutely no facilities for carrying 
Difficulties out k* s work. He is rather considered as a 

very unwelcome intruder into the public 
domain, and not as a representative of the public interests. 
He is received with suspicion by most officials, who at once 
place themselves on their guard, as though a spy from the 
enemy's camp were endeavouring to pry out secrets. Public 
opinion, the officials consider, is a thing apart from the carrying 
out of their duties, and often they manifest a decided dis- 
inclination to enlighten the people through the Press 
concerning a point at issue. 

The career of the German journalist, too, is a restricted 
one. It does not lead, as in some other countries, to public 

positions. In the Government service or in 
Restricted ^ e Ministries there is no opening for him — 

he has not gone through the regular bureau- 
cratic mill. He might be never such a clever man and possess 
all kinds of knowledge useful to an administrator of public 
affairs, but he cannot obtain any footing. 

As regards the periodical Press, the German reviews are 
noted for their remarkable articles on scientific subjects and 
on philosophy, but their political influence is regarded as very 
small. Most of the writers are professors, whose style is 
inclined to the dogmatic and does not admit of argument. 
The illustrated periodicals hold an important position in 

the German Press. Many of them are real 
Paoers works of art. Among the best known are 

the Illustrierte Zeitung, Vom Fels zum Meer, 
Moderne Kunst, Fur alle Welt and Die Woche, but there are 
many others which are very popular. 



The Press and its Influence 207 

The ordinary daily and weekly newspapers, too, are now 
making extensive use of illustrations, and the tendency seems 
to be in the direction of giving additional interest to the news 
of the day by illustrating it with photographs and drawings. 

The German satirical and comic papers have probably 

attained as great renown as those of any other country, and 

in most cases they are fully entitled to it. 

Humorous Many of them are liable, however, at times 

to overstep the bounds of good taste and 

decency. A certain licence is, of course, permissible in a 

comic paper, but some of the drawings dealing with public 

events are, to say the least, unsuitable to be placed in the 

hands of minors. Humour surely can be illustrated without 

bestiality ! 

The drawings produced in the humorous periodicals are, 
as a rule, remarkably good, and many of them are really 
witty without the fault of tastelessness and abuse of artistic 
freedom ; but, on the other hand, at times their so-called 
wit is accompanied by such horrors that they arouse a feeling 
of disgust. 

The titles of some of the humorous papers, such as Fliegende 
Blatter, Lustige Blatter, Jugend, Kladderadatsch and Simplicis- 
simus, are known as well outside of Germany as within, and 
pictures from them are widely reproduced abroad. 

The postal arrangements for forwarding and subscription 

to newspapers are excellent. The postal authorities issue a 

list of all the papers with their subscription 

Postal prices delivered in the house, and a would-be 

Arrangements. r , , . . , ., , , 

subscriber has only to inform the postman ol 

his desire to subscribe and pay the sum noted and the paper 

is regularly delivered. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

" INTENSE " MUSIC 

When music is under discussion in any part of the globe, it 

is almost inevitable that Germany should be mentioned in 

the course of the conversation, for Germany 

e Music 6 ^ as come to b e regarded as the modern home 

of music. It cannot be disputed that the 

Germans are musical : probably the most musical nation the 

world has known, with the exception of the Jews. 

The musical life of the country is " intense " in the most 
extended signification of the word. 

In whatever class of society one moves, whether among the 
wealthy or the poor, music has a place, and a high one, in the 
people's thoughts. Grand opera, high-class orchestral concerts, 
popular choral evenings, the public performances of military 
bands — all are certain of overflowing patronage at all times. 

Virtually every club, whatever its purpose, has its favourite 
songs, which the members sing together on all kinds of occa- 
sions. University students always foregather 
V Smffs° y *° *^ e accompaniment of song. Workmen 
at their political demonstrations sing. The 
peasants sing going to and from their work. Even the 
soldiers are encouraged to sing on the march outside of the 
cities, one of the officers with musical talent being specially 
appointed in each battalion, battery or regiment to teach 
the men patriotic marching songs. 

The German folk-songs, which everybody in the Empire 
sings, and which are carried into foreign lands in the farthest 
- parts of the earth by thousands of emigrants, 

will probably never lose their hold on the 
people. The Emperor recognises their great value as an 
element in the maintenance and furtherance of patriotism. 
He offers much personal encouragement to choral societies 

208 



" Intense' ' Music 209 

which practise these simple melodies, which really express the 
sentiment of the people, and makes it his duty to attend from 
time to time their singing competitions. He is not sparing in 
his criticisms when composers attempt to inflict ornamental 
variations on the simple words. Latterly, as head of the Army, 
he has given orders that all soldiers shall be taught the best 
of these songs, old and new, so that when they return home 
from their military service they shall spread them among their 
families. 

Musical education and comprehension in Germany have, 
with the spread of general instruction, made extraordinary 

strides. Many millions of people who were, 
E ^ usl £ al before the compulsory school attendance, as 

little interested in artistic music as in any 
other kind of art have now, by reason of the broadening of their 
minds, developed a desire for more intellectual food. 

Yet, with all this encouragement and all this desire for 
music, modern composers of real genius are very few. There 

seems for the moment to be a period of stagna- 
Modern Genius tion ]\| an y f the younger men take up a 

position very similar to that of the impres- 
sionist painter, and offer to the waiting world a discordant 
mixture of a few tones hashed and rehashed. They will 
tell you it represents a ship in a tempest with the winds 
howling through the rigging and the cries of men washed 
overboard, or else a storm hurtling through a forest with 
old oaks and elms cracking and falling before its fury. The 
music might be intended to represent these things and might 
even do so in the mind of the composer ; but it might also 
represent the sounds arising from a catastrophe in the 
kitchen. That is a matter of opinion. The worst compli- 
ment one can pay this kind of composer is to tell him he has 
written something pleasant, harmonious and comprehensible 
to all. He stands, in his own opinion, upon a plane much 
higher than that. A charitable view of his position is that he 
is fishing in the sea of sound without much success. 
14— (2391) 



210 Germany of the Germans 

It is probably as difficult for composers as for artists and 

authors to give expression to the " hustle " of to-day's stream 

of thought ; but, as in other branches of life 

H tf S ^ e d eman d for modernity has produced a 

supply, so it may be in music, and the near 

future may provide a style which combines art in its best form 

with up-to-date methods of expression. 

It remains a fact that, during the past twenty years, no 
German composer has given the world anything that could 
for a moment bear comparison with the works of Schubert, 
Schumann, Weber, Mendelssohn, Haydn, Bach, Beethoven, 
Brahms and Wagner. All these masters continue to maintain 
their hold on the public, and latterly have even increased their 
popularity. 

Richard Wagner, the operatic master of Germany, who 

invented what is now considered a really national music, was 

one of those exceptions who, like a Goethe 

Richard or a Shakespeare, appear only once in a 

nation's history. He was at first regarded 

as an impossible revolutionary, but his ideas gained ground 

and, even before his sudden death in Vienna in 1883, he had 

become the nation's idol. His plan of making Bayreuth the 

home for model performances of all operatic works was never 

carried out and the little Bavarian town has become simply 

a Wagner centre. 

Richard Strauss, Engelbert Humperdinck and August 

Bungert are the only operatic composers who have of late 

years gained the approval of the public. 

R Comoosers ra Wagnerian influence preponderates in most of 

the opera music of the present day, in some 

instances in extremely exaggerated form ; but none of the 

modern composers have been able to approach the skilful 

musicianship of the great German master. Other composers 

than the three named have from time to time had passing 

success. 

In the lighter kinds of opera the works of Albert Lortzing 



"Intense" Music 211 

have usually been adopted as examples to be imitated by other 
composers. Some of the newer works have achieved momen- 
tary success, but few possess any lasting worth. Perhaps 
among the best liked and most musical is " The Taming of the 
Shrew," by Hermann Gotz. 

German chamber music stands out to-day from all other 
kinds owing to its excellence. In this branch of composition 
the real musician comes to the front, without any technical 
frills and ornaments to aid his efforts. 

Berlin has become the central point of musical life. It 

has grown in this respect in the same proportion as it has 

increased in importance as a political centre. 

ImP B£tfn? ° f The Kaiser > who Personally takes great 
interest, both as music lover and financially, 
in the Royal Opera, has always desired to make the Berlin 
Opera House the musical headquarters of Germany. It is, 
however, rare for an opera to be produced there for the first 
time. 

The Dresden Court Opera holds indubitably the first rank 
in Germany. Ready at all times to welcome novelties, it has 
been the scene of the first performances of many renowned 
works — Wagner, Richard Strauss, etc. 

Concert music, in which Leipzig, the home of music dealers, 

once took the lead, is better represented in Berlin since the 

Saxon city has become more of an industrial 

Musk 1 centre. It is still, however, customary for 

new-comers to seek the approval of the Leipzig 

musical critics, as well as those of Berlin, before launching out 

on a professional career. 

Orchestral concerts are given in enormous quantities 
throughout the autumn and winter in all the big cities. 
There are several world-famed orchestras — the Royal, the 
Philharmonic and Panzner — all of which attract large 
audiences. 

One of the most widely known and at the same time justly 
renowned musical societies is the Philharmonic of Berlin, 



212 Germany of the Germans 

which in 1909 celebrated its twenty-fifth birthday. It 

may be said that anything of importance in the musical 

world, not only of Berlin, but of the Empire, 

The Philharmonic ce ntres m this society. It has done wonders 
Society. J 

for the musical education of the country, 

bringing to Berlin the greatest musicians in the world. 

Even in the smaller cities and towns concerts of high-class 
music are given with notable frequency, under the directorship 
of excellent conductors. 

Musical festivals are held in many of the great towns every 
year and attract enormous audiences. 

Richard Strauss without doubt occupies the leading 

position in the German musical world of to-day. His 

works certainly give rise to a great amount 

Richard Q f cr iticism on account of their unwonted 
Strauss. 

tendency, but everybody recognises his talent 

and earnest purpose. Many of his compositions are full 
of difficulties for conductors. Strauss himself is a wonderful 
orchestral leader. He began composing music when he was 
only six years old, and at twenty-one had become Court 
musical director in Meiningen. A year later he took a similar 
position in Munich ; from 1889 to 1894 he was Court con- 
ductor in Weimar ; from 1894 to 1898 he was again in Munich, 
and then was given the succession to Felix Weingartner as 
Court conductor in Berlin. 

Strauss represents in himself the new Romantic school of 

music, to which he gives expression in his two remarkable 

operas, " Salome " and " Elektra," both of 

The s ^° mantic which are notable for their extraordinarily 
exaggerated and eccentric effects. The com- 
poser has developed in them hitherto undreamt-of methods 
of composition. He varies mystic passages with realistic 
rallies in such a way, and with such masterly technique, that 
the hearer is to a certain extent hypnotised. 

Of Strauss's compositions the best known are "Don 
Juan," " Macbeth," " Don Quixote," " Till Eulenspiegel," 



<( 



Intense" Music 213 



" Feuersnot," " Tod und Verklarung," " Salome " and 
" Elektra," the last two symphonic poems. It is generally 
said that he makes too much of details and that his 
compositions lack proper light and shade. 

Engelbert Humperdinck is also reckoned in the first 

rank of German musical composers of the day. With his 

" Hansel und Gretel," founded on the fairy 

Front X Rank s ^ 0T y> ne achieved immediate success in 

1894. He has also produced a number of 

other fairy tale operas, including " Sieben Geislein," '* Konigs- 

kinder," and " Dornroschen," the latter of which was well 

received. 

Siegfried Wagner, son of the great Wagner, who lives in 
Bayreuth and conducts the Wagner festivals, has written a 
number of operatic works, only one of which, " Die 
Barenhauter," has met with popular approval. 

August Bungert, who is both pianist and composer, brought 
out an opera, " The Homerian World," with but moderate 
success. He has better results with his songs and chamber 
music, symphonies, etc. 

Max Bruch's operas, " Loreley " and " Hermione," are 
enjoyable works. He has also composed a number of choral 
works and concertos. 

Of other recent operas, " Tiefland," by Eugen d'Albert ; 

" Der Rattenf anger von Hameln," by Paul Geissler ; " Edda," 

by Karl Reinthaler ; " Till Eulenspiegel," 

0t Opefa e s! ent h y Von R eznicek, attracted some attention, 
but not of an enduring kind. 

Arnold Mendelssohn, who is a relative of the great 
Mendelssohn, displays talent in a very marked degree. 

Max Reger, of Leipzig, who confines himself principally to 
chamber music and piano pieces, is a consistent disciple of 
Bach. He has composed much for the organ and has produced 
several choral works. 

Philip Scharwenka has also produced some excellent 
chamber music. 



214 Germany of the Germans 

Joseph Joachim, who was as well known in London as in 

Berlin in the latter part of last century, was the recognised 

master of the violin. His works for that 

S ir r i?f instrument are almost innumerable. 

Violin. . 

Many modern music composers nave at the 
same time been authors of no mean repute. Engelbert 
Humperdinck was for a period a critic of great renown in 
Frankfort. Richard Strauss and Max Reger have also 
published excellently written works.,- Hans Pfltzner, a 
composer who sticks to the old school, is co-editor of a South 
German monthly periodical. 

Among the host of well-known conductors, many of whom 

deserve more praise than they obtain for their help in making 

musical productions successful, is Siegfried 

cSduSST 0chs ' who brou § ht the wonderful Philhar- 
monic choir to its present state of perfection. 
Then there are Max Fiedler, who also composes orchestral 
and chamber music ; Felix Mottl, who is one of the best of 
Beethoven conductors ; and Franz Fischer, who has con- 
ducted in Bayreuth. Of course there are many others whose 
names are equally familiar both in Germany and England. 
Noted German instrumentalists, who are also in most cases 
composers, include : Moritz Moszkowski, Otto Neitzel, 
Heinrich Barth, Hans von Bronsart, all of whom are pianists 
who have played in various countries, including England ; 
Gust a v Hollander, Willy Burmeister and Bernhard Dessau, 
violinists; Robert Haussmann (of the Joachim quartett), 
Hugo Becker and Hugo Dechert, violoncellists, and Wilhelm 
Posse, harpist. 

Germany has, as is only to be expected from such a musical 
nation, produced many singers of world-wide repute. 

Emma Destinn, the soprano of Berlin, 

Sineer? where she is a member of the Royal Opera 

Company, was born in Prague, Bohemia, but 

is generally looked upon as a German. She has sung in all 

the leading capitals. 




E. DESTINN 



"Intense" Music 215 

Lilli Lehmann-Kalisch, Mathilde de Castrone Marchesi, 
Marie Dietrich, Ottilie Froitzheim-Metzger and Marie Gotze 
are names on everybody's lips. They are mentioned here 
without any prejudice towards the many other distinguished 
women who have achieved fame as operatic and concert 
singers. 

It would require several pages to reproduce the names of 
German men vocalists who are known outside as well as inside 
of Germany, but a few who have earned laurels in England 
may be mentioned. For instance, Georg Henschel, Karl 
Scheidemantel, Theodor Bertram, Franz von Dulong, Andreas 
Dippel, Karl Dietrich and Ludwig Hess. 

Where the great singers come from and how their gift was 

first discovered are interesting questions, which can be answered 

in some cases in connection with German 
Where Singers s : nffprs 
Come From. blI1 5 erb - 

Theodor Wachtel, the operatic tenor, was 

originally a coachman in Hamburg. It is stated that one 

evening, as he was driving a wealthy wine merchant home 

from the opera, his customer overheard him singing some notes 

from an aria. Wachtel's artistic career began soon afterwards. 

Anton Schott was a captain of artillery in the Wiirttemberg 
army and had fought through the Franco-German war before 
he learned that he possessed a splendid tenor voice. He then 
went on to the stage and reaped triumphs in England and 
America as well as in his native land. 

Otto Briesemeister, also a great tenor, was a practising 
physician before he went in for opera, while 

Phy sin a e 1 r and Paul Knu P fer > the concert singer, studied for 
the same profession. 

Karl Burrian, the dramatic tenor of the Dresden Opera, 
is a lawyer. 

Franz Betz, once the leading baritone of the Berlin Opera, 
was a technical student in Stuttgart, and Marian Alma, the 
lyric tenor at the same theatre, also studied at a technical 
school. 



216 Germany of the Germans 

Albert Niemann, the wonderful Tannhauser, was a 
locksmith. 

Georg Anthes, dramatic tenor in the Dresden Opera, was a 
violinist at Homburg, while Otto Brucks, the baritone, was a 
contra-bass player. 

Ernst Kraus, one of the leading Wagnerian tenors, was a 
brewer's drayman. 

Max Alvary, the great Wagner singer, was 

A Wagnerian ^ son Q f ^ e well-known landscape artist, 

Andreas Achenbach. He also wanted to be 

a painter, but his father apprenticed him to a business career, 

which he left to become a builder. His gift was discovered 

while he was at work in Milan. 

There are no fewer than 50,000 professional musicians in 
Germany, most of whom rely on teaching and occasional 
engagements, as only 2,500 are employed in State and muni- 
cipal theatre orchestras, and another 10,000 in private 
orchestras. Their earnings are, as a rule, extremely moderate. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

DRAMATIC FARE 

Drama comes after music in the intellectual fare of Germany, 

but only occasionally of recent years has a new and really 

appetizing dish been placed before playgoers. 

Modern Plays j n q^j. wor d Sj successful modern plays have 

been few and far between for a decade. 

In this period neither the older school of modern play- 
wrights, comprising such brilliant men as Hermann Suder- 
mann and Gerhard Hauptmann, Ludwig Fulda and Fritz 
Engel, George Hirschfeld and Max Halbe, nor the younger 
school, comprising, to mention a few names, Frank Wedekind, 
Herbert Eulenberg and Otto Falckenberg, has given much 
of note to the stage. 

In some quarters this dramatic dullness is attributed to the 
scathing criticisms to which playwrights and plays are sub- 
jected in the press. Perhaps the critics have 
Scathing succeeded in the same way as the surgeon 
who announced that " the operation itself 
was quite successful, but the patient has unfortunately died." 
Whatever is the cause, authors seem to hesitate now to write 
for the stage. 

Dramatic critics in Germany, it is true, deal with plays in 
a terribly earnest manner. They never look at a piece from 
the point of view of the public, but analyse it and dissect it 
from the literary and schoolmasterly standpoints. This, of 
course, is all well and good. Everybody desires to have 
passable literature presented to him from the stage, and 
nobody would wish for illiterate nonsense ; but it is a fact that 
ninety-nine people out of every hundred go to the theatre to 
be entertained, and do not regard the play from the literary 
and schoolmasterly standpoints at all, but from the point of 
view of its human interest. 

217 



218 Germany of the Germans 

Without endeavouring to cast the entire blame for 

the present dullness on the critics, it must be confessed that 

the playgoer of to-day is greatly influenced 

1 Playgoers " ^y the criticism in his morning newspaper of 
a new piece. This was not so when the plays 
now regarded as classics were written. These were made 
successful or unsuccessful by the direct verdict of the play- 
goers of the period. Professional critics had not been evolved 
then ! That the popular verdict of those days was reliable 
is proved by the fact that the classics still attract, despite 
some of them containing defects which would prove their 
undoing if they were to be produced for the first time 
to-day. 

Schiller, Goethe, Lessing, Hebbel, Kleist and Grillparzer 
maintain their position as providers of the real stock-in-trade 
of the German theatre. Shakespeare, too, holds a place — in 
fact, he is more often played in Germany than in England. 

Twenty years ago, following the long period of depression 

succeeding the war, there was a great revival of the drama. 

The foundation of the " Free Theatre " was 

Th tr ' ,e *^ e nrs t movement towards introducing fresh 

life. The undertaking, which was founded 

in 1889, was under the auspices of Maximilian Harden, Leo 

Berg, Otto Brahm, and a number of authors, journalists and 

others who desired to have a stage on which all kinds of plays 

would have a hearing, and also to provide a stepping-off place 

for the new naturalistic literary school. The venture was a 

great success and play after play of real merit was introduced 

to the public, until German drama really began to occupy 

a high place once more. 

Then the German public began to backslide and a more 
degenerate taste became apparent. The production of good 
new plays began to decrease, until the call in the capital was 
almost entirely for light and sensational works in preference 
to more substantial pieces. It became old-fashioned to 
express a liking for the more serious works. 



Dramatic Fare 219 

Another theatrical novelty introduced at about the same 
period as the " Free Theatre " was the " Free People's Stage," 

which was an effort on the part of the working: 
Iteee" S c ^ asses to develop a theatre of their own, in 

which they could satisfy their longing to 
enjoy at least some of the culture of the time, which was 
denied to them owing to the high prices of the ordinary 
theatre. The idea was so fruitful that the society now 
numbers some 16,000 or 17,000 members. The principles on 
which the society works are of the most democratic kind. 
The membership fees are extremely moderate. Various 
theatres are rented, generally on Sunday afternoons, but also 
at other times when they are free, and the seats are distributed 
by lot to the members. Some of the best actors are engaged 
and the best plays are produced in excellent style. Members 
of the society are chosen to carry out the necessary service in 
the theatres, where, owing to the fact that the society is 
strictly private and the audiences confined to its members, 
the police censorship on plays cannot be exercised. There is 
never any disturbance, because of the admirable arrange- 
ments for order, and the movement has had a wonderful 
effect on the working classes in consequence of its offering 
them sensible amusement and an opportunity of improving 
themselves during a time which might otherwise have been 
devoted to less elevating pursuits. 

Berlin, by reason of its rapid increase in population in the 
meantime and the number of theatres it possesses, had 

developed into a theatrical centre. Its word 
Berlin a h as become law for the German drama, so that 

1 tiGcitriCcil 

Centre. every play produced in the country must 

obtain the approval of the capital. 

The taste of Berlin having, as has been seen, turned to 

farce and musical comedy, the rest of the country, with a few 

exceptions, where the municipalities maintain the theatres 

and regular stock companies, has taken to the same dishes. 

Authors, therefore, have not obtained much encouragement 



220 Germany of the Germans 

to provide other fare, and the art of play- writing has declined 
to a great extent. 

One great lack of the modern German stage is historical 
drama, depicting the story of the nation in recent times. 
The esteem in which absolute exactitude of 
Lack of detail is held is probably responsible for this 
Drama. lack, so little room being left for the imagina- 
tion of the author that he fears to venture on 
this line of play. Another reason is the prohibition in Ger- 
many against presenting on the stage anything in reference 
to princely personages who have lived since Frederick the 
Great. Dramatists are thus greatly restricted and, in fact, 
since Schiller no great dramatist has entered this field. 

Society and problem plays, on the other hand, are presented 
in abundance. 

French plays or adaptations of French plays are more 
favoured in Germany than those written by German drama- 
tists, because the French playwrights are not so artificial as 
their German colleagues. The French take an incident in 
real life and work it up into a play or they select a subject 
in which everybody is interested at the moment and write a 
play round it, and by putting it on the stage bring the subject 
better home to the auditors than it would be brought by 
reading about it in the journals. 

As to the position of the theatre in the eyes of the public 

authorities, there is a strong feeling in favour of creating 

a State Theatre and also a real national 
Position of dramatic schooL 

Authorities. ..,..., , , , ,, . 

The municipalities have already shown their 

faith in the theatre as a factor in the culture of the people. 

In Prussia alone thirty-nine cities own municipal theatres 

of their own or grant subsidies to existing private theatres. 

The sums spent on the drama by the civic representative 

bodies vary greatly. In Siegen, for instance, a subvention 

of only £50 annually is given ; while in Cologne, which has 

two municipal theatres, the yearly cost to the ratepayers is 



Dramatic Fare 221 

£24,895. Frankfort-on-the-Main, whose opera-house and 
principal theatre are public property, spends £13,650 out of 
the town's budget on providing entertainment. Barmen's 
city theatre costs £5,950 a year to maintain, and Dortmund 
expends £6,242 yearly on its theatre. Other notable sub- 
ventions for dramatic purposes are granted by Essen, £3,900 ; 
Elberfeld, £3,830 ; Aix-la-Chapelle, £3,455 ; Diisseldorf, 
£2,556 ; Magdeburg, £2,517 ; Wiesbaden, £4,352 ; Breslau, 
£3,132; Posen, £1,280, and Bromberg, £1,569. 

Berlin possesses at the present moment twenty-five theatres, 
which attract on weekdays an average total audience of from 
12,000 to 15,000, and on Sunday afternoons and evenings 
about 20,000. 

The model theatre of Germany is that of Cassel, in the 

neighbourhood of which city lies Wilhelmshohe, the country 

seat of the Emperor. His Majesty opened 

Theatre* the theatre him self in August, 1909. It was 

built at a cost of £150,000, of which the city 

subscribed £65,000. All the most modern improvements 

connected with acoustics, stage machinery and lighting have 

been incorporated. The stage is surrounded by a framework 

which gives every scene the appearance of a painted picture. 

The building itself is a delightful specimen of the Baroque 

style of architecture. 

The favourite classical plays of the German stage are those 
of Schiller, whose dramas were produced no fewer than 1,441 
times in the winter season of 1908-9. " William Tell " was 
the most popular of his works, and was performed on 292 
occasions. Goethe, whose works were produced 705 times 
during the same period, occupies the next place among native 
authors. His " Faust " was billed 213 times. Shakespeare, 
however, was played 945 times, " The Merchant of Venice," 
which was produced 120 times, being the work for which most 
preference was shown. Lessing, with 376 ; Hebbel, with 409 ; 
Grillparzer, with 369 ; Moliere, with 185 performances, all 
enjoy prominent places among the classics in Germany. 



222 Germany of the Germans 

Among modern authors Sudermann took the lead during 
the same season with 1,202 performances. Ibsen was pro- 
duced 876 ; Gerhard Hauptmann, 476 ; 
Authors. Blumenthal, 1,021 ; Frau von Schonthan, 
931, and L'Arronge, 684 times. The three 
last-mentioned are on the repertory of all the municipal and 
royal theatres. 

The individual pieces which enjoyed the longest runs, not 
always consecutive, were Wildenbruch's " Rabensteinerin," 
with 938 performances ; the translation of the French comedy, 
" Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme," which appeared 812 
times ; H. Bernstein's " The Thief," which was produced on 
510 occasions, and " Old Heidelberg," 477 times. 

The person most in view among modern dramatic authors 

is Gerhard Hauptmann, who was born in 1862 in Silesia. His 

first leaning as a youth was not towards the 

Gerhard stage, but to sculpture. He for a time had 
Jtiauptmann. -,• • -*-% • 

a studio in Rome, whither he had gone to 

study the ancient masterpieces. It was during this period 
that he made his first literary efforts, in the shape of poetry. 
The year 1886 was the turning-point of his life, for then he 
came into touch with some of the pioneers of the new literary 
movement towards naturalism. In the following year he 
published a realistic novel, " Bahnwarter Thiel," which at 
once showed the world the stuff that was in the young author. 
His first play, " Before Sunrise," produced privately in 1889, 
awakened the interest of wide circles in the problem of alco- 
holism. He was at that time greatly influenced by Ibsen, 
and in his following plays this influence comes well to the fore. 
His " Einsame Menschen " is regarded as one of the pearls 
of German drama. " The Weavers," however, brought him 
most renown. It appeals to every class for its truth and its 
dramatic effect. It won success at once. So many triumphs 
has he had that it is only necessary to repeat a list of his 
works. " Hanneles Himmelfahrt " and " Biberpelz " were 
succeeded by a historical drama, " Florian Geyer," in 1895, 




Photo by 



Bieber 



HERR HAUPTMAXN 



Dramatic Fare 223 

which, although treated in his inimitable style, was rather 
too long to please the public taste. A fairy tale, " The 
Sunken Bell," brought him almost as much fame as " The 
Weavers." His beautifully written " Fuhrmann Henschel " is 
a piece of great worth. Other plays of less attraction, but 
generally possessing splendid technique, have since been pro- 
duced, and more may yet be awaited from this versatile and 
masterful author. 

Hermann Sudermann's renown as a dramatist equals his 

fame as a story-writer. He was one of the first to break away 

from the current of uninteresting reiteration 

and°Dr"^atYst. which was cram ping Germany's literature 
and drama. " Die Ehre," founded on the 
real life of the big Germany city and telling a story that at 
once appealed to all Germany — of the gulf between rich and 
poor — made his name. Some of his other most successful 
plays are " Das Gliick im Winkel," " Heimat," " Sodom's 
Ende," and the more recent rather French " Es lebe das Leben." 

Max Halbe, with his " Jugend," had one of the greatest 
theatrical successes in Germany in the last half-century. It 
deals with a problem certainly, but so interestingly and deli- 
cately handled that it cannot offend anyone's susceptibilities. 
Other of Max Halbe's plays have also been well received. 

Ernst von Wildenbruch, the recently deceased author, gave 
to Germany a considerable number of romantic plays, in which 
the clash of weapons mingled with heroic words. Almost all 
of his work, however, is devoted to a glorification of the 
House of Hohenzollern, Brandenburg and Berlin. Among 
his best and most often produced works are " Die Quitzows " 
and " Die Haubenlerche." 

Ludwig Fulda has won more success as an adapter of 

Rostand and Moliere than as an inde- 

Adapter pendent dramatist, although some of his 

plays — for instance, " Unter Vier Augen " — 

have taken the public fancy. All his writings are clever, and 

their dramatic form leaves little to be desired. 



224 Germany of the Germans 

Richard Voss, who was born in 1851, in Pomerania, under- 
took the handling for the stage of social problems long before 
the movement was taken up by other authors. He did his 
work very well at the beginning, especially in " Eva," but 
later fell off greatly, and from his prolific pen very little of 
value remains to the stage. 

Frank Wedekind, a sceptic and cynic, has attracted much 
attention by the manner in which he deals with life's problems. 
His satires of men and women are clever, but far-fetched. 
" Friihlingserwachen " is his best-known work. 

Leo Berg was one of the founders of the " Free Theatre," 

which has helped so much to bring modern authors to the 

front. He is imbued with a thorough literary 

th L M ^ spirit and has published a number of serious 
critical works. 

Friedrich Spielhagen deals well with themes in which 
democracy and aristocracy are involved, and in which he 
takes up the cudgels for the proletariat. 

Max Dreyer has given the stage many trivial but attractive 
pieces, full of local colour. 

Georg Engel is one of the " modern " dramatists who has 
had much success. 

Otto Brahm is recognised as Germany's leading theatrical 
director. He was in the advance guard of the reform move- 
ment in literature and the drama, which led to the foundation 
of the " Free Theatre," under the auspices of Maximilian 
Harden, Leo Berg, Otto Brahm and others. He has published 
studies on Ibsen, Gottfried Keller, etc., which are full of talent. 

Although German actors and actresses, as a general rule, 

are very conscientious and play their roles in the most efficient 

manner, great genius is at the present time 
German Actors. , , , °, ? ,, ^ , ~« 

not to be found on the German stage, lne 

basis of their art is thoroughly sound, but is not seconded by 

any really striking talent. 

The system of engaging the actors for a period of years at 

most of the theatres makes for a better general company 



Dramatic Fare 225 

than is the case in countries where an actor-manager or 
actress-manageress merely engages other people to fill the 
stage, while he or she takes the only real role in a piece specially 
written for the purpose. 

In Germany the players work much more together and 
consequently the performances are always up to a good 
average, the smaller parts being studied just as carefully in 
regard to detail as the more important ones. 

The actors are much more true to nature than they were at 
one time, and they are assisted generally by excellent 
costuming and stage decoration. 

It is really remarkable to discover on investigation how 
many of the leading players are of Austrian birth. 

Agnes Sorma stands out as the leading actress of Germany 

of recent years. She has scored many triumphs during her 

career, creating characters in numerous plays 

Th Ac?r r es a s! eSt of aU the modern dramatists. 

Richard Alexander, of the Residenz Theatre 
in Berlin, is among the leading humorous actors of Germany. 
He has no rival in his rendering of the comic characters in the 
light French pieces so much in favour. 

Alexander Barthel, of Frankfort-on-Main, holds a high 
position as a portrayer of dramatic heroes and ideal characters. 

Among the other players of German birth who have had 
considerable success in the various cities of the Empire in 
recent times may be mentioned Adalbert Matkowsky, Rosa 
Bertens, Ferdinand Bonn, Albert Bozenhard, Paula Conrad, 
Carl Grube, Gertrud Giers, Johanna Hanfstangl, Otto Sommer- 
storff, Meta Illing, Else Lehmann, Ludwig Stahl, Elise Sauer, 
Arthur Vollmer, Ernst Kraus, Emanuel Reicher, Irene 
Triesch, Paul Lindau and Rudolf Schildkraut. 

There are many others, probably equally good in their 
profession and equally popular with the public. 

According to the official statistics, no fewer than 90,699 
persons gain a living from the theatre and music and 
public performances of all kinds in Germany. 

15— (3391) 



226 Germany of the Germans 

From figures given by the Theatrical Association, which 

may be regarded as official, no fewer than 45 per cent, of the 

_ „ . people connected with theatres have to con- 

PfiOf" Sfl 1 3.1*1 GS 

tent themselves with yearly salaries ranging 
from £36 to £50 ; 25 per cent, receive from £50 to £120 ; 
20 per cent, from £120 to £150 and only 10 per cent, enjoy 
more than £150 annually. From these salaries the actors 
have to provide in most cases their own costumes and to pay 
the commissions of the theatrical agents. 

The Court theatres and those of great cities pay fairly high 
salaries to their " stars." Smaller towns possessing muni- 
cipally-subsidised theatres pay an average of £60 and to their 
leading artists up to £120 a year, with an addition for their 
wardrobe of from £10 to £40 annually. 



CHAPTER XXV 

ART AND ARCHITECTURE 

The conception of art and the method of its expression are 
for the moment in a condition of complete chaos in Germany. 
There are, it may be said, as many artistic 
styles as there are artists. Among these 
artists there are without doubt a number of brilliant men, 
full of ideas, also of ideals ; but, owing to their state of con- 
stant uncertainty, they are unable to explain themselves to 
the world. 

The extraordinary outbreaks of the artists of the present 
period, displaying themselves in the shape of unreal realism 
and anarchical impressionism, may be, and probably are, only 
the eruptions which accompany the maladies of infancy. 
Once these are overcome, German art may grow strong and 
eventually develop into something worthy of such a great 
nation, which has in so many other ways proved that it has 
attained a vigorous maturity. 

In art the German has assimilated much from other countries 
and other centuries. This no doubt accounts for the extraor- 
dinary difference often observable between 

A^milated the Style and the sub J ect of the P ictures 
produced. The artists appear to try to apply 

a style belonging to other days and to other races to canvases 

intended to depict modern German ideas. The result is in 

many instances disaster, and in others only comparative 

success. 

Many of the younger artists have felt the need of breaking 
away from this fatal incongruity and of 

Artists Revolt. endeavouring to form a sty l e suitable to 

national needs. They revolted against the mechanical 
groove into which art was being directed by academic 

227 



228 Germany of the Germans 

professors filled with historical artistic lore, but with few 
independent ideas. They regarded the doctrines of the 
schools as a brake on the wheels of real art. 

Like most revolutionaries, the secessionists went too far. 
Their nerves became unstrung, and they could not control 
themselves. The consequence is that, instead of succeeding 
in their reforming aim, they have only brought about a state 
of anarchy. The sudden release from a depressing collectivism 
has led to an over-driven individualism. 

Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, at the centenary of the Munich 

Art Academy in. 1909, spoke some very plain words against 

the exaggeration of some of the German 

Pn piainl PeakS im P r essionists. He told the artists present 
that : " Art should be comprehensible to all, 
but many so-called works of art are mere dabs of colour 
without form." 

The Emperor, too, has uttered very severe reproofs on 
several occasions. 

Yet this anarchic condition is possibly only a stage on 
the way to the new, as yet undeveloped national style that 
the revolutionaries hope to evolve. Its extravagances 
may be simply the outcome of the striving to attain some- 
thing of which the producers themselves are not certain ; 
but which will, when it does take shape, be worthy of their 
efforts. 

It is surprising, in the land of traditional sentimentality, 

that the number of brilliant artists should be so limited, 

more especially as the people as a whole 

Artiste Few ^ as suc confidence in itself. It is, how- 
ever, a fact that modern Germany has not 
produced many artists who have told a story to the world on 
canvas. 

With so many centres of art teaching — Munich, Dusseldorf, 
Carlsruhe, Cassel, Leipzig, Dresden, Frankfort, Konigsberg, 
Weimar, Hamburg and Berlin — great genius is singularly 
lacking. Which of these centres is the most important or 



Art and Architecture 229 

the most fruitful is a matter of opinion. Munich and Diissel- 
dorf are the best known, but each of the others has its devotees. 
Of late years Northern Germany has gained much ground in 
artistic repute. 

Piloty, of Munich, one of the best-known German artists 

of the nineteenth century, is credited with having taught 

Germans what they know of painting. He 

p^ J aug had such a good reputation that he drew 

pupils from every country, and gave to them 

an excellent foundation without any limitations of style. 

Munich's Bohemianism is a catchword in artistic circles, 

but many a well-known artist has received his training there. 

Among them are Arnold Bocklin, who was in reality a 

Swiss. He is generally regarded as a genius in Germany, but 

there are some who consider him over-rated 

A Reputed an( j d ec i are that he spoilt his excellent 
Genius. r 

designs by his exaggerated colouring. 

Franz Stuck, a Munich secessionist, has a very warm 
imagination, but a peculiar temperament, and his drawing is 
crude, so that he is sometimes disappointing. 

Also from the Munich school came Wilhelm von Leibl, one 
of the best liked of modern German painters. His pictures 
show a strong love for the reproduction of the truth. No 
detail seems to have escaped his attention, yet his canvases 
are delightfully simple. Many of them depict peasant life and 
hunting scenes. 

Ferdinand von Reznicek, who started out to be a painter 
in Munich, soon found out his real bent and became an illus- 
trator, in which branch of art he rapidly 
Illustrator attained world-wide renown through his 
drawings in " Simplicissimus." 

Ludwig Thiersch, who died in 1909, was a very prolific 
historical and religious painter of the Munich school. Churches 
in practically every European country contain frescoes by 
him, and the Greek church in London possesses some of his 
oil paintings. 



230 Germany of the Germans 

Franz von Lenbach, undoubtedly the finest modern por- 
traitist in Germany, has painted nearly all the crowned heads 
in the Empire, as well as many of the 
p A t <?•% renowned beauties. 

Fritz von Kaulbach is noted for his great 
delicacy of handling. He is much sought after as a 
portraitist. 

Walter Firle, also of Munich, has turned out many clear 
and well-coloured pictures of harmonious taste. He has done 
many portraits. 

Georg Sauter, who lives in England, is a Bavarian. He is 
devoted to portraits and figure pictures. He has been much 
influenced by the Scottish and French schools. 

From among the Berlin artists several have found con- 
siderable favour. For instance, Arthur Kaempf, of the 

„ .. . . Academy of Arts, is a talented portraitist, 
Berlin Artists. , , ■* . , , ,, -r, .,, , 

who has painted the Emperor with much 

success. A great future is predicted for him. 

Max Liebermann was first president of the Berlin Secession, 
of which he soon became the recognised leader, but which he 
has now deserted. He has executed many fine works, some 
of which have been acquired for the public museums. 

Alexander Schmidt-Michelsen, who only recently died, 
was a very gifted Berlin artist, whose works are distributed 
over a wide range of public galleries. 

Walter Leistikow, who died in 1909, was another Berlin 
secessionist with rare talent. 

Ferdinand Hodler has carried out some really fine work in 
the newer style of the Berlin Secession. 

Willy Hamacher, one of the most promising of the Berlin 
school, who died in 1909 at the early age of forty, devoted most 
of his attention to seascapes portraying the life of the North 
and Baltic seas. His colouring, which he owed to the 
impressions received during a sojourn in Italy, filled his 
pictures with a brightness hardly to be seen in northern 
climes. 



Art and Architecture 231 

Ludwig Knaus, a genre painter of Diisseldorf and Berlin, 
who combines the lighter touch and sureness of the French 
school with deep German feeling, has held a high place in 
art in Germany for many years. His works appear in many 
public galleries in Germany and America. 

Count Leopold von Kalckreuth is a very prominent figure 
in the German art world of to-day. He studied in Diisseldorf, 
Weimar and Munich. 

The Carlsruhe school has several representatives who 
attract the public eye just now. Hans Thoma, a portrait 
and genre painter as well as a landscapist, excels in the latter 
branch. His pictures are reproduced in print probably more 
often than those of any other German painter. 

Another follower of this school is Edward von Gebhardt, 
who is classed in the front rank of religious painters. 

Wilhelm Triibner, of Carlsruhe, a secessionist, is an eminent 
portraitist. 

Max Klinger, of the same city, is sculptor, painter and 
engraver, displaying great talents in all three branches. 

From Dresden comes Fritz Uhde, a painter of several 
notable religious pictures. He was almost entirely self-taught. 

_j . Ludwig von Hofmann, from the same 

town, is a colourist, devoted to the newer 
idealism. 

Leopold Bode, who died in Frankfort in 1906, was a roman- 
cist of the greatest distinction. He executed a large number 
of excellent water-colours and charcoal drawings, depicting 
German folk-lore, while his oil paintings of forest scenery in 
Switzerland, the Tyrol and Bavaria are much admired. 

As in other countries, there are also in Germany hundreds 

of so-called artists who imagine that by covering a certain 

space of canvas with a certain quantity of 

Artist paint every year they are adding to the 

artistic production of the nation. This is 

an unavoidable occurrence, generally brought about by lack 

of frankness on the part of well-meaning friends. 



232 Germany of the Germans 

As regards sculpture, Germany has suffered from a similar 
movement of unrest of late years as in painting. The result 
is that, although many hundreds of public 
monuments and statues have been erected, 
the artistic eye only finds occasional comfort in the sight 
of a really excellent work. Many, of course, find admira- 
tion from the followers of certain schools, and a great number 
have merits of one kind or another ; but, when the work is 
considered as a whole, there is much to be desired. 

Some sculptors of the modern school naturally stand out 
above their fellows, and this is the case with Robert Diez, 
of Dresden, and Reinhold Begas, of Berlin, who both have not 
only done excellent work themselves, but have passed on their 
ideas to many pupils. 

Robert Diez, a Saxon, is famed for his monumental foun- 
tains in Dresden, and as a very successful professor of sculp- 
ture at the Academy there. He has also a 
fine Bismarck monument in that town and a 
group representing " The Warrior's Return " in Brunswick. 
Heinrich Epler, another Dresden professor, displays a 
remarkably realistic talent in some of his works, for instance 
his group of " Two Mothers " in Dresden. 

Reinhold Begas, the master of most of the German sculp- 
tors of the present day, first made his name through his 
excellent monument of Schiller in front of 
A M P a ° s P£ lar the Royal Theatre in Berlin. Later he, with 
the assistance of other sculptors, executed the 
great monument of the Emperor William I in front of the 
castle. 

Paul Ludwig Cauer collaborated with Reinhold Begas on 
the same monument and also executed the monument of Karl 
V in the Siegesallee. 

Johannes Gotz also collaborated with Begas on the Emperor 
William monument. He has, besides, a statue of Joachim I 
in the Siegesallee and some works purchased by the National 
Gallery. 




PROF. LUDWIG KNAUS 



Art and Architecture 233 

Hans Magnussen, a pupil of Begas, is the sculptor of 
innumerable Bismarck monuments. 
Walter Schott is among the most popular sculptors of the 
capital, where he has made a large number 
Bismarck Q ^ \ )US i s f leading men in all branches of 
Monuments. ,,.■,., 

public life. 

Max Baumbach is noted for several fine busts and two 
monster works, the monument of Emperor Frederick on the 
battlefield of Worth and an equestrian statue of King Albert 
of Saxony in Dresden. 

Hugo Wilhelm Schafer has devoted himself mostly to heroic 
statues of great men, many of which are to be found in public 
squares in various cities. 

Max Kruse is famous for his group of Marathon runners in 
the Berlin National Gallery. 

Adolf Hildebrand's fame as a sculptor is widespread. His 

monumental fountain in Munich is an entirely harmonious 

composition. He has chiselled many busts 

W Fame 6ad of well ~ known personalities. 

Fritz Klimpsch is one of the talented younger 
men, who collaborated in the designs of the Reichstag building. 
Emil Hundrieser has produced several monuments of 
former Emperors and great statesmen in different cities. 

From the Munich school has come, among others, Hermann 

Hahn, who has done some delightful bronze statuettes, 

besides excellent monuments of Moltke, Lizst, 

Th SchooL Ch and other celebrities. 

Eduard Beyrer, also of Munich, is much 
influenced by the classics. He made his name by a memorial 
to Roon, in Krabnitz. 

Georg Busch, of Munich, devotes his chisel to groups of 
children and religious work. 

Adolf Briitt does a considerable amount of artistic bronze 
work, but has also carved some excellent monumental works 
in Kiel, Altona and Berlin. 

Christian Peter Breuer, who has a statue of the Elector 



234 Germany of the Germans 

Sigismund in the famous Siegesallee of Berlin, has also given 
excellent specimens of imaginative work. 

Ludwig Manzel has a monumental fountain in Minden, a 
national monument of Duke Friedrich of Anhalt-Dessau, and 
the reliefs of the Emperor William I Tower in Grunewald. 

Otto Lessing has executed many worthy busts of celebrated 
men. 

Many of the younger men have at times done work which 

displays considerable talent and gives hope for the future. 

With the spread of education interest in art naturally 

extends day by day, and the public galleries 

Public an( j museums increase in importance owing 

to the general taste so rapidly improving. 

The museums and galleries of Germany have become of 

international significance, not only for the masterpieces they 

contain, but as a consequence of the complete- 

A Great ness Q £ th e } r classification. A great reform has 

been effected in this respect by Professor 

Wilhelm Bode and Professor von Tschudi. Professor Bode, 

director of the Royal Museum in Berlin, is at the present 

moment one of the leading lights of the art world. He has done 

much to enrich and develop the German collections, in which 

he is aided by liberal grants of money from the authorities. 

Professor von Tschudi, who is now the warden of all the 
public art treasures of Bavaria, is an Austrian by birth. He 
had a great deal to do with the organisation of the Berlin 
art galleries, with which he was connected for more than a 
quarter of a century. 

Germany has no great galleries in any way to be compared 

with the French Louvre, the Italian Palazzo Pitti or the 

British Museum and National Gallery, but 

W /? r !?"^ mous there are all over the country innumerable 
Collections. „ „ . , , ■: , . . ,. 

smaller collections with an admirable selection 

of artistic works. 

The collections of Dresden, Munich, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, 

Frankfort and other cities are world-famous. 



Art and Architecture 235 

Leading German artists seem to be of opinion that the 
possession of an extensive collection of old masters does not 
tend to increase the artistic sense of the public, which is just 
as well pleased with good copies of the originals. It is probable 
that the idea will be carried out of forming a great collection 
of copies of all the works of the great masters gathered together 
in a central institution. 

Private collectors, who are becoming very numerous and 

far-seeing, have succeeded in acquiring many old masters. 

Rembrandt, Rubens, Titians, Hals, Botti- 

Collectors celli ' Goya, Stozzi, Verspronck, are all well 

represented in private houses. 

Arts and crafts schools under the auspices of State or city 
exist in nearly every district, and the pupils receive there a 
generous artistic education for very small fees. The system 
of teaching is, however, rather mechanical, and young artists, 
once they have finished their course of instruction, find it 
difficult to break away from the routine and display an 
individuality which would distinguish them from the mediocre. 

In architecture there has, in the last two or three decades, 

been a wonderful revival, principally brought about by the 

. ... remarkable development of the cities of the 

Architecture. -~ . r 

Jbmpire. 

In the newer districts of the big cities, the varied styles of 

the houses at first seem bewildering, but further acquaintance 

renders the variety almost charming and the absence of 

monotony gives the streets a more cheery aspect than they 

would possess if all the buildings were alike, as they are in 

some places. 

The Romantic, German Renaissance and Baroque styles of 

architecture are still mostly depended on in the construction 

of new public edifices and the great buildings 

Used 6S rendered necessary by the introduction of the 

gigantic modern stores in the cities, but utility 

and comfort in most instances take the place of a fixed style. 

Outside the towns architects are searching for modifications 



236 Germany of the Germans 

of the recognised styles in the construction of villas and 
country residences, and it must be said that some of them 
meet with great success in erecting houses which accord with 
the picture of the surroundings. 

In some cases new structures, even of the most important 
national character, have been given a pretentious appearance 
owing to a combination of massiveness with meretricious 
ornament. 

The use of iron in building has brought about a total change 

in the architectural idea, which is gradually developing into 

what will at some future time become a fixed 

Iron Changes s fy\ e Th e great stores now being erected 
in every city have adopted a style of perpen- 
dicular lines, which permits the entrance of plenty of light 
and gives an impression of great roominess, while the buildings 
in many instances are not lacking in artistic appearance. 

The control of building by the municipal authorities, who 
must pass all plans before a brick or a stone may be laid, has 
killed much of the old individuality, but has improved the 
general appearance of cities. Public control was introduced 
to check the rapacity of speculative builders, but in the opinion 
of many it went somewhat too far, and even the authorities 
have recognised that the system has demerits, and they now 
in many cases call in artistic aid to advise them in their 
decisions. 

In the older cities, some of which still remain in their 

original completeness, with picture-like effect, the authorities 

insist on all new buildings being constructed 

Pic at r ies que in the same st y le - 

Both the Catholic and Protestant Churches 

continue their adherence to the Gothic style of architecture, 
the only difference between them being in the internal arrange- 
ments, which in the Protestant churches are much simpler 
than in the Catholic. 

Among some of the modern edifices worthy of mention are 
King Ludwig's Bavarian castles, the immense Frankfort 




THE CATHEDRAL, MAYENCE 



Art and Architecture 237 

railway station, which was planned by Eggert ; the Imperial 

Parliament, by Paul Wallot ; the Imperial Supreme Court 

at Leipzig, by Ludwig Hofmann ; the National 

Modern Museum in Munich, by Seidl ; the Cologne 

Dom Hotel, the Munster Town Hall, and a 

large number of banks and insurance offices. 

The demand for architects has met with rapid response, 
the excellent schools producing many capable men every 
year. 
Many Capable Alfred Messel, whose achievements in 
architecture are almost beyond count, died 
but a short time ago. He was the designer of many town 
halls and Government offices, and of the handsome head- 
quarters of great industrial and commercial undertakings 
which have sprung up with such rapidity since the foundation 
of the Empire. 

Paul Wallot, since the construction of the Imperial 
Parliament, has completed the Saxon Registry Office in 
Dresden. 

Karl von Grossheim's work as an architect is known all 
over the Empire. Banks, great hotels or exhibition buildings 
have been erected by him in nearly every city. His style is 
always historical and his designs are well carried out. 

Heinrich Kayser, who works in conjunction with Karl von 
Grossheim, is a much sought-after architect, who has planned 
innumerable public edifices. 

Ludwig Hoffmann is the successor of Messel, the great archi- 
tect of Berlin, and in his hands lies the future architecture 
of the public buildings of the capital. 
^ctftect* 1 Hans Griesebach has erected churches, 

museums and mansions in many cities of 
Germany, one of his chief works being the St. Peter's Church 
in Frankfort. 

Bruno Schmitz built the Imperial Museum in Mannheim 
and the great world-renowned restaurant, the " Rheingold " 
in Berlin. 



238 Germany of the Germans 

Franz Schwechten planned the two bridges over the Rhine 
at Cologne, the Imperial Palace in Posen, and a number of 
churches. 

Hermann Obrist is the leader of the present school of 
decorative internal architects. 

The list of modern architects is, of course, much longer, 
and many men besides those mentioned have achieved more 
or less lasting renown. 

To mention all the ancient edifices in Germany would mean 
writing the history of the nation. A few of the more important 
in the varying styles may, however, be cited. 
jSSJ-f?* Architecture of the ancient Romantic style 

is to be found in nearly every part of Germany. 
Naturally most of the edifices of this style are of a religious 
character. Many of them date from the eleventh century. 
The churches of St. Michael, consecrated in 1033 and rebuilt 
in 1185, and St. Godard, consecrated in 1133, both in Hildes- 
heim, are excellent specimens. In Mayence, Speier and 
Worms, too, the cathedrals, built respectively at the end of 
the ninth century, 1030 and 1171, are imposing examples. 
Three of the Cologne churches, St. Maria, St. Martin and the 
Church of the Apostles, are very old buildings in this style. 
The Bamberg Cathedral, too, dates first from 1010, but has 
been renovated many times, while Bonn and Limburg 
Cathedrals are variations from the true style. 

The Gothic style is well represented in all parts with 
churches dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
The Ladies' Church in Trier was built from 
* 1227 to 1243, Freiburg Minster in 1250, 
Strassburg Cathedral in 1275, Cologne Cathedral in 1248, St. 
Katharine's in Oppenheim in 1262, Ulm Cathedral in 1377, 
Regensburg Cathedral in 1275, St. Lawrence's and St. Sebald's 
in Nuremberg in the fourteenth century, besides several 
others in North and South Germany. 

Many castles and palaces are built in the Italian Renais- 
sance of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Landshut 




Photo by 



Frith 



CATHEDRAL, FREIBURG 



Art and Architecture 239 

Residency dates from 1536-43 ; old Stuttgart Castle, from 

1553; the Munich Residency, from 1600-16; Heidelberg 

Castle, from 1601, restored in 1693 ; Aschaff- 

RenltsSL. enbur S Castle ' from 1605 " 13 : Dresden Castle, 
from 1547 ; Hartenfels Castle, from 1532-44 ; 
and Weimar's princely residence, from 1553. In this style 
also are the town halls of Rothenburg, Strassburg, Cologne, 
Liibeck, Posen and Emden, all of them of the late sixteenth 
century ; while those of Nuremberg, Augsburg and Bremen 
date from the seventeenth century. There are hundreds of 
other public buildings of the same style, especially in Southern 
Germany. 

The Baroque style is presented in nearly all its variations, 

the Roman Baroque being more prevalent in the South, in 

consequence of the people being Catholic, 

while in the North, where the majority are 

Protestants, the Dutch Baroque is more frequent. 

Of the Rococo style there are a number of examples in 
Carlsruhe, Berlin, Stettin, Leipzig and Frankfort. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE 

German philosophy is, with German literature, art and music, 
in a transitional stage, philosophical search for a direction 
being in the main responsible for the uncer- 
w ng tainty existing in the other branches of study. 
The mode of thought appears to be return- 
ing to the same way as was taken by Kant, after having under- 
taken all kinds of trips through the paths of rationalism, 
materialism, sensualism and other regions of study. 

There exists one school of philosophers who are endeavouring 
to harmonize the philosophy of Kant, Fichte and Hegel with 
the scientific requirements of the present time ; while others 
are engaged in independent efforts to work out a system of 
knowledge from fresh standpoints. 

At the present moment there is a great gulf between modern 
culture and the Christian Church. Both art and literature 
have in great measure broken away from 
Great Gulf their former union with the churches. 

People in general, too, are looking for and 
demanding a new ideal, but for the moment cannot find it. 
The great thinkers do not provide one. 

The working classes display a remarkable interest in philoso- 
phical questions, the popular courses on such subjects at the 
universities and educational institutes being always crowded. 
Perhaps the best method of obtaining a general idea of the 
variations of thought now holding the field will be to quote 
some of the leading philosophers whose views are occupying 
public attention to-day. 

No philosopher since Hegel has exerted so much influence 
on intellectual life in Germany as Friedrich 
Nietzsche Nietzsche, who died in 1900, has done. 

As in many other instances, the genius of 
Nietzsche remained almost entirely unknown during his active 

240 



Philosophy and Culture 241 

life. It was only just before the terrible mental affliction 
took complete hold of him that any attention was paid to his 
works, and even of this appreciation he never knew, for he 
did not recover his reason, and when he died his mind was 
a total blank. 

He published many brilliant works full of suggestive ideas, 
in which he complained of the present acceptation of progress, 
criticising the prevalent hypocrisy and selfish- 
Works* ness an( ^ sta -t m £ n * s belief in human destiny 
and the efforts of mankind towards it. In 
" Thoughts out of Season " and " The Birth of Tragedy " his 
effort was to create an optimistic conception of the goal of 
German culture. His series " Human, all too Human," " The 
Dawn of Day " and " The Merry Science " break sharply 
away from the spirit of pessimism which had hold of the nation. 
They are all very sceptical concerning philosophy and atheistic 
in their tendency. He criticises in them present-day morals 
and also the democratic movement. 

Another series of works, " Thus Spake Zarathustra," 
" Beyond Good and Evil," " On the Genealogy of Morality," 
" Wagner's Fall " and " Heathen Dusk," takes the same line 
of thought, but goes still farther ; while his unfinished work 
on " The Reappraisement of all Values " was intended as a 
development of the Zarathustran teachings. 

He was an opponent of the theories of Kant. He contested 
the idea that sympathy with others could alone lead to salva- 
tion and argued for inconsiderate self-interest 
n oi Kant 6nt an< ^ *he assertion of human mastery. He 
contended that the strong should develop 
their strength and not sustain the weak. He favoured the 
propagation of the animal spirit in man as an assistance 
on his march towards his final intellectual and general 
development. 

As a popular philosopher, Ernst Heinrich Haeckel has done 
much to spread the dogma that Christianity or the belief in 
any god is impossible in view of the discoveries of science. 

16— (2391) 



242 Germany of the Germans 

Haeckel is a Darwinian who for a long series of years held 

the chair of biology at the University of Jena, from which 

he recently retired into private life. His 

*D eC w^n n 16 b°°k s on important biological problems 
are written in very popular style, and even the 
ordinary public are able to read them and learn much from 
them. 

The works of Haeckel find eager readers among the pupils 
of the higher schools, who have passed the stage when the 
catechism was all they had given them and they were told 
they must accept it. When the youths read the works of the 
critical philosophers they begin in many cases to despair 
whether they can ever attain a solution of the problems 
placed before them. The Church is, in Haeckel's view, to 
blame for much of this. Protestant as well as Catholic simply 
say : " You must believe." They do not attempt to reason, 
and to-day reason for faith is called for. 

Rudolf Eucken, of Jena, who is a practical idealist, has 

found an immense number of disciples to follow him along his 

path of thought, which takes a somewhat 

A Id aT* t &1 different direction from that followed by many 
of his fellow philosophers of the present day, 
but which certainly appears attractive to the younger genera- 
tion of students. He himself is not hesitant in calling himself 
a follower of Fichte and Kant in some respects, but he tends 
more to the direction of man's taking an active part in the 
great task of life instead of being merely here in order to carry 
out some pre-ordained portion of Nature's development 
without himself initiating anything. He considers man, in 
fact, as more than a mere created being. He is here to do 
something ; to help the world on while he is here. Professor 
Eucken, who is a very prolific writer, has been awarded the 
Nobel prize for literature. Eucken's position towards 
religion is that none of the established religions really fills 
the place of an absolute religion, because all are influenced 
more or less by the current of ideas of the times in which they 



**>%. 




PROFESSOR HAECKEL 



Philosophy and Culture 243 

were founded. He, however, recognises that all of them help 
mankind along the road to truth. 

Despite the tendency of the time towards collectivism, there 

is mutiny in the breasts of some Germans who claim an 

opportunity for individualism. They assert 

L^iTin^ that the efforts of the collectivists, although 

successful in many directions where it is 

recognised that only good can come from generalization, are 

destined to receive a check before they reach a point where 

everything and everybody becomes equal. 

Professor Wilhelm Windelband, of Heidelberg, is one of the 
philosophers who deal with the struggle between individual- 
ism and the collectivism of the present day. He says: "There 
is no longer that self-training of personality which formerly 
existed. Everywhere there is collective life — in the great 
industrial works, in commerce, in science and art — the 
characteristic of all of which is to sink personality into system. 
Hegel's words have come true: 'The masses are advancing.' " 
As has been seen in the pages on the subject of creeds, the 
present form of religion appears to become more and more 
unsatisfying to the nation as a whole, and the 
Form of people devote themselves more to the pursuit 
Unsatisfactory. °f other lines of culture, to science and to the 
solution, or attempted solution, of some of 
the pressing economic problems, which are more tangible 
and present to their view. 

Many present-day philosophers have taken up the position 
towards religion that the good that religion has done to the 
world is known, while the evil that might come from its 
abolition cannot be calculated. It is therefore much better 
to adopt one way of thinking when belief and morals are 
concerned — namely, to adhere to the ideals of the religious 
teachings — but in other directions to accept the realistic proofs 
of science. The result of this is in some respects peculiar : 
the scientist who has found the teachings of Holy Writ im- 
possible of belief in consequence of the discoveries made in his 



244 Germany of the Germans 

investigations often feels a longing for some idealism to which 
he can attach himself. How he satisfies this desire depends on 
himself. His knowledge that he has a conscience and some 
moving power within him gives him cause for reflection, and 
he often utilises his scientific knowledge to build up for himself 
a religion of his own, which provides him with an ideal up 
to which he can live. 

Theologists argue very strongly against this view. 

Professor Bornhauser, of Marburg, contests the ideals of 

purely human personality set forth by some philosophers 

and declares that the Christian ideal of 

Theologists personality embraces all that is worth having. 
Arguments. sr j o 

The Christian, he says, always has in prayer 

to God a source from which he can renew his strength. 

Professor Schwarz says : " All culture is as nothing without 
religion. Economic development means the sharpening of 
the differences between rich and poor ; legal development the 
differences between master and servant ; scientific develop- 
ment those between educated and uneducated. All these 
differences together form the social problem. Who is to solve 
it ? Only someone who can make mankind satisfied, obedient 
and moral — and that is God and His religion. Therefore a 
struggle against God and His religion is a struggle against 
culture and for barbarity." 

Gustav Theodor Fechner, who died in 1887, and whose 
theory is agreed with by many of the leading thinkers of the 

day, argued that the future of religion is a 
Fechner s conjunction between belief and science. 

People, he contended, have become tired of 
the Church's dogmatism, which appeals neither to the head 
nor the heart, but still they seek for something more than 
gross materialism, while atheism appears to them like an 
abyss. The liberal sections of the Churches have begun to 
see the logic and the necessity of combining knowledge with 
belief, and perhaps the day is not far distant when the religious 
feelings of the people will again be stirred by preaching that 



Philosophy and Culture 245 

shows itself in accord with the times. Fechner in his works 
always endeavoured to harmonize present-day knowledge 
with the Biblical writings. His world was far from being 
a godless one, all was full of life and sunshine and happiness, 
with belief in the goal of mankind. 

Dr. Alfred Heussner, of Gottingen, says: " Philosophy is 
learning ; religion is life," and in his view Christianity has a 
great future to add to its great past. 

Ch Future ty S Professor Doring, of Berlin, regards religion 
as "a parallel appearance to culture, each 
of them reflecting what mankind desires to have and to 
be." 

Carl Jentsch, who was for nineteen years a Catholic priest, 
but then left the Roman Church, believes it quite possible for 
a scientist to be at the same time a Christian, for, he says, 
" philosophy has long ago destroyed the foundations of 
materialism." 

Other modern philosophers, whose works have from time 
to time attracted attention, take up varying points of view. 

Wilhelm Bolsche is very optimistic regarding man's future 

on earth. He regards the human being as possessing the 

o «■• • t power to develop himself in such a way as 

to overcome all the difficulties of existence 

which pessimists predict for the future. 

Professor Weismann, of Freiburg University, is an out-and- 
out Darwinian, who has published a number of very convincing 
books on the subject of evolution. 

Alois Riehl says : " The deepest effect of philosophy is to 

transform knowledge into wisdom. Endeavour, through 

setting forth the relations of the things of life 

Phi Ta S s°ks hy ' S to P mloso P n y> to raise or P robe tne general 
surface of hurrfan culture. Philosophy is the 
groundwork of all sciences, and as such is imperishable and 
capable of development. The development affects equally 
scientific and ethical views and through the conjunction of 
both philosophy will be given higher tasks." 



246 Germany of the Germans 

Professor Thode, of Heidelberg University, opposes the 
realistic and materialistic idea of looking at life and also the 
prominence given to outward appearances at 
Lost f Idealism * ne expense of the development of intellect. 
He considers that Germans have lost much 
of their idealism under the influence of foreigners, the develop- 
ment of ideas of culture has received a check, and the 
nation has to some extent become unfaithful to its task of 
culture. 

Professor Ludwig Gurlitt is of opinion that German culture 
is in great measure hindered by the State, which, aided by 
its partner, the Church, puts a brake on 
InteUecufaHty. intellectuality. He is very pessimistic, 
declaring that followers of Kant, Goethe, 
Schiller, Hebbel, and Nietzsche find little State recognition 
and that the desire for culture is stamped out in the schools. 
He also says the Church strives against modernism and there- 
fore against progress, and that thousands are ready to change 
the existing insupportable conditions. 

Professor Kurd Lasswitz finds religious life necessary, but 

it must not be dogmatic or take the form of a church, resting 

rather upon the inner working of personal 

Neoessar ^ ene ^ ^ n n * s v * ew fanaticism, enthusiasm, 
compulsion on the conscience with hierarchy 
are the worst enemies of real culture, which results from self- 
responsibility, discipline of thought, will and feeling — the 
government of nature by intelligence. 

Richard Dehmel sees Germany's chief ideal in the creation 
of a materialistic culture of the first rank, through the intro- 
duction of economical, juristic, hygienic and moral discipline 
among the people ; but he regards the attainment of the 
ideal as difficult owing to the varied nature of the interests 
involved. 

Friedrich Neumann takes much the same view, but thinks 
a unification of the interests must come. 

Professor Georg Simmel, of Berlin, finds the reason for 



Philosophy and Culture 247 

pessimism among thinkers in the ever-widening gulf between 

the culture of things and the culture of mankind. The 

perfection of institutions and of the con- 
Reason for , .., , , , . , 
Pessimism. veniences of life, he says, does not imply 

culture. That can only be attained by the 
cultivation of self. 

The older German philosophers, Leibniz, Kant, Hegel, 

Herbart, Fichte, Schelling, Schopenhauer and Hartmann, 

still have a more or less extended direct 

PhHoso^hers following among those who do not see their 

way clear to keep up with the more modern 

schools of thought. 

What will be the outcome of the struggle between the 
different tendencies is difficult to foresee, as supremacy seems 
to lie first with one and then with another. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

MUNICIPAL ACTIVITIES 

Since the war of 1870 the face of Germany has completely 

changed. In 1871 there were only eight cities of over 100,000 

inhabitants, containing in all only 2,000,000 

Gr ° Oties f ^ out of the total P°P ulation of 41,000,000. 
At the last census, in 1905, there were no 
fewer than forty-one cities with a population of over 100,000, 
and these accounted for over 11,500,000 of the 60,500,000 
inhabitants of the Empire. Since 1905 the number of city 
dwellers has largely increased. 

The immense spread of industry and commerce accounts, 
naturally, for the greater part of this change. The eight 
ports of Hamburg, Stettin, Konigsberg, Bremen, Altona, 
Kiel, Danzig and Lubeck, which in 1885 had a total population 
of only 1,167,400, had increased in 1905 to no fewer than 
2,045,156. 

The great cities which owe their development purely to 

industry are Chemnitz, Plauen, Nuremberg, Essen, Bochum, 

Gelsenkirchen, Elberfeld, Barmen, Dortmund, 

Ind^t* Duisburg, Dusseldorf, Krefeld and Aix-la- 

Chapelle. Frankfort-on-Main and Halle are 

commercial cities, while Leipzig has trade and industry 

combined, and is also the seat of the Imperial Supreme Court, 

as well as of many art and science institutions. Munich, 

Dresden, Karlsruhe, Strassburg and Posen have extended 

mostly because they are seats of government. Stuttgart is 

the centre of a thickly populated agricultural district, as is 

also Breslau. 

The distribution of wealth among the great cities of Prussia 

248 




W 



Municipal Activities 249 

is very unequal, if the number of millionaires on the tax- 
payers' lists is to be accepted as a guide. According to the 
latest returns there were for every 1,000 tax- 

DlS Wealth* ° f P a y ers m Charlottenburg — an annex to Berlin 
— 32'9 millionaires (that is to say, mark million- 
aires, or possessors of over £50,000). In Frankfort-on-Main 
there were 28*4 per 1,000 ; in Wiesbaden, 24*8 ; in Diisseldorf, 
22; in Berlin, 21 9 ; in Aix-la-Chapelle, 202 ; in Elberfeld, 
181 ; in Cologne, 16*1 ; in Barmen, 15*2; in Essen, 14*2; 
in Dortmund, 10*9 ; in Magdeburg, 10"5 ; in Breslau, 9'6 ; 
in Hanover, 9*6 ; in Halle, 9*2 ; in Cassel, 8*5 ; in Krefeld, 
8*5 ; in Altona, 7*7 ; in Duisburg, 7*6 ; in Bochum, 6*8 ; in 
Stettin, 64 ; in Gelsenkirchen, 64 ; in Erfurt, 6*2 ; in Posen, 
5*8 ; in Kiel, 5*6 ; in Schoneberg, 47 ; in Danzig, 4*7 ; in 
Rixdorf, 3*4, and in Konigsberg, 33. 

City government is in Germany, except for the police — 
which in large towns is a State force controlled by the Minis- 
terial authorities and entirely independent of municipal control 
— in the hands of the ratepayers, who elect the municipal 
councils by public ballot. 

The mayors of cities are chosen for a number of years (in 
Prussian cities the period is twelve years) by the town council ; 
but the approval of the State Government must be obtained 
for their appointment, except in Baden, where the towns are 
not controlled in this way. 

German municipalities bear a very heavy burden of 

debt, the total at the end of 1907, the latest available, 

amounting to £264,800,000, of which no 

BU Debt.° f less than £210,000,000 was borrowed in 
the ten years between 1897-1907. These 
figures refer only to districts with over 10,000 inhabitants. 
The cities, indeed, issue more and more loans every 
year. The amount of debt and the interest paid thereon 
per head of population in some of the leading towns 
make interesting reading. The following short table shows 
the figures : 



250 



Germany of the Germans 





Debt 


per ] 


Head 


Annual Interest per 
Head of Population 


Frankfort-on-Main 


£ 
32 


s. 
15 


d. 



s. 
16 


d. 
2 


Charlottenburg . 
Wiesbaden 


26 
25 


14 
11 






19 
17 


8 

7 


Diisseldorf 


22 


12 





16 


71 


Dortmund 


21 


17 





15 


3 


Krefeld . . . 


20 


16 





13 


11 


Cologne 
Schoneberg 
Dresden . 


17 
16 

14 


2 
19 
12 







12 
12 
10 


7 

2* 


Hanover . 


14 


9 





9 


10 


Posen .... 


14 


3 





9 


11 


Greater Berlin 


13 








8 


6 


Leipzig 
Rixdorf 


12 

12 


12 
12 






8 
6 


10 



A considerable amount of this money is represented by 

municipal buildings and undertakings. These include town 

halls, school-houses, hospitals, asylums, gas, 

Where Money wa ^- er an( j e i e ctric works, baths, market-halls, 

is Used. ■ ■ ' ' •_ *., . ' 

slaughter-houses, museums and libraries, 

pawnshops, etc. 

Statistics have been compiled referring to 1,825 munici- 
palities, of which 800 undertake one, 556 two, 311 three, 111 
four, and 37 five and more branches of trading. 

In continually increasing proportion the cities are under- 
taking on their own account works of public utility, on the 
principle that enterprises which are indis- 
pensable to the whole community should not 
be in the hands of private owners, who are 
striving only for their own benefit. 

The latest extension of this kind of enterprise has been 
started by the rural communities, especially in industrial 
districts, where canals are a great factor in transport. In 
Teltow, for instance, the local council has built a canal at a 
cost of £2,000,000, and owns tugs both on the canal and the 
river Havel, and also an electric railway. 

Essen, in Westphalia, has, with the assistance of the 



Works of 
Utility. 



Municipal Activities 



251 



Rates and 
Taxes. 



neighbouring communities, started a great electric plant which 
supplies a large circle of the surrounding country, and is about 
to take over a local railway at a cost of £700,000. 

Many other districts are following this example. 

In 101 towns from which returns are to hand the total 
amount of municipal rates and taxes raised annually rose 
from £7,988,000 in 1895 to £16,560,000 in 
1906. These figures, of course, refer only to 
big towns. In 1907 the total amount of the 
rates raised by all cities, municipalities and rural districts 
was £156,901,000. 

It would take too much space to go into the whole question 
of taxation and rating in Germany. Perhaps a fair idea of 
the general level of direct imposts, without including the 
indirect taxes on consumable and other commodities, may be 
obtained from the official tables of taxes and rates levied in 
some of the big Prussian towns, most of which are industrial 
centres. Women and children are also included in the figures 
when they refer to the amount per head. 

Rhine District 







State Income 


Local Rates 




Population 


Tax per Head 


per Head 






s. d. 


£ s. d. 


Bonn .... 


83,950 


19 6 


1 17 2| 


Dusseldorf . 






265,050 


19 6 


1 19 11£ 


Elberfeld 






166,090 


17 5 


2 4 4 


Essen 






244,700 


16 4£ 


1 19 9f 


Cologne . 






458,040 


16 0£ 


1 18 11 


Aix-la-Chapelle 






153,370 


15 4 


1 18 7f 


Duisburg 






206,850 


13 4£ 


1 14 5 


Coblence 






55,980 


13 3f 


1 7 


Rheydt . . 






42,220 


12 7| 


1 14 8£ 


Crefeld . 






124,740 


12 5f 


1 12 10£ 


Miilheim-on-Rhine 




52,590 


12 2 


1 12 8~ 


Miinchen-Gladbach 




63,450 


12 0£ 


1 16 0£ 


Barmen . 




161,680 


12 0l 


1 18 If 


Mulheim-on-Ruhr 




100,380 


11 10 


1 7 3 


Oberhausen 




58,400 


11 H 


1 13 8£ 


Remscheid . 




67,820 


10 7 


1 13 If 


Trier .... 




48,020 


9 10£ 


1 9 9£ 


Solingen . 




49,600 


9 6 


1 10 6| 



252 



Germany of the Germans 
Westphalian Towns 







State Income 


Local Rates 




Population 


Tax per Head 


per Head 






s. d. 


£ s. d. 


Dortmund . 


192,550 


12 9f 


2 3| 


Bielefeld 






72,080 


12 8 


1 12 llf 


Munster . 






84,330 


11 8i 


1 10 9 


Gelsenkirchen 






158,180 


10 Hi 


1 9 0£ 


Iserlohn . 






30,200 


10 6£ 


1 10 4i 


Bochum . 






127,220 


10 3f 


1 9 Of 


Witten . . 






36,420 


10 11 


1 14 8f 


Liidenscheid 






30,740 


9 10 


1 7 4* 


Hagen 






83,920 


9 3£ 


1 12 0£ 


Hamm 






40,520 


8 8| 


1 9 11 


Recklinghausen 




50,340 


7 10* 


1 11 3 


Heme 




54,560 


7 1 


1 8 If 



Other Prussian Cities 







State Income 


Local Rates 




Population 


Tax per Head 


per Head 






£ s. d. 


£ s. d. 


Charlottenburg . 


260,330 


1 14 4 


2 10 7 


Frankfort 




353,480 


1 11 0* 


2 15 0£ 


Wiesbaden 






103,660 


1 7 2f 


2 13 10 


Schoneberg 






158,920 


1 1 11 


1 18 7 


Berlin . 






2,049,620 


1 0* 


1 18 2 


Cassel . 






144,860 


13 lOf 


1 13 10 


Hanover 






278,010 


13 10£ 


1 9 1 


Magdeburg 






245,290 


13 8 


1 15 4* 


Halle . . 






175,190 


13 2| 


1 9 10* 


Erfurt 






103,070 


12 lOf 


1 8 6 


Breslau 






494,820 


12 7 


1 14 10 


Kiel . . 






172,430 


10 10£ 


1 17 9£ 


Gorlitz 






84,060 


10 6J 


1 3 11 


Altona 






171,940 


10 5i 


1 13 9 


Stettin 






228,530 


10 4 


1 11 1\ 


Konigsberg 






230,870 


9 1 


1 12 10 


Posen . 






146,010 


8 6£ 


1 10 8 


Danzig 






159,550 


7 8£ 


1 6 1 


Rixdorf 




190,040 


7 4* 


15 6 



Municipal Activities 253 

A slight glance at the work of the municipalities for the 
citizens gives an idea of the range of activities covered by 
these public bodies. 
Range of j^e fig^gs are so complex and come from 

so many different quarters that the authori- 
ties cannot keep up to date within some years, but those given 
are official. 

Hospitals and lunatic asylums account for a considerable 
portion of the municipal expenditure every year. In 1901 
there were no fewer than 120,872 patients admitted into the 
public and private asylums throughout Germany, of which 
there are 332 with 90,159 beds. 

In the same year there were 48,750 deaf and dumb and over 
34,000 totally blind to be cared for. 

The public and private hospitals, of which there were 
2,340, with 176,487 beds, gave accommodation to 1,253,218 
in-patients in the same year. 

e ospi s. Then, besides the lighting and cleaning, 
controlling the markets and slaughter-houses, providing water 
and other necessities, the municipalities supervise the 
registration of births, marriages and deaths, vaccination and 
school attendance. 

Public baths, too, are furnished in some cities. There 
are 2,847 of these hygienic institutions in the Empire, which, 
however, means only one for every 22,000 of the population. 
There are 1,092 municipalities, each containing over 3,000 
inhabitants, which do not possess any public bath whatever. 
The total of baths provided altogether is 18,996 washing baths, 
11,111 shower baths and 232 swimming baths. In some 
districts the rivers are much utilised as bathing places. 

The opening and closing of shops is strictly regulated by 

police order under the municipalities' instruc- 
Regulation of tions j fift towns ey kind of s h op) 

Shop Hours. , , J . •' . t . , 

other than restaurants and drmkmg-houses, 

is compelled to close at eight in the evening except on Satur- 
day night, when an extension to nine is permitted. On Sundays 



254 Germany of the Germans 

all are allowed to open till 2 p.m. except during church hours, 
which are reckoned from ten to twelve. There is no restric- 
tion on places of public entertainment, such as theatres and 
music-halls, as to hours either on Sunday or any other day. 
Restaurants and drinking-houses usually close at 2 a.m., but 
may obtain permission to remain open all night the whole 
year round. 

In the entire Empire there are over 2,400 miles of tram lines, 
under the control of 237 companies (in some cases the muni- 
cipality). Most of them are run by electric trolley system. 
There are 39,853 drivers, conductors and inspectors and 12,937 
other employees. The total capital laid out on these lines 
is £45,231,522. 

The State Governments have for many years encouraged 

the municipalities to acquire lands in the vicinity of towns 

for building purposes. The encouragement 

A of q LMd° n has fallen on fmitful soi1 ' for at the P resent 
moment over 1,100 communities in Germany 

have assured incomes from the rents of municipal lands, thus 

affording considerable relief of taxation. 

The whole of the planning of the cities is in the hands of 
the municipalities, and in some instances, where a landlord 
does not build on a vacant site, the land is taxed and rated at 
its estimated value if it were built on and the amount is 
increased as the value of the land augments. 

Over 300 municipalities have also introduced taxation 

on unearned increment values of land within their boundaries. 

So many of the cities of Germany are real 

Increment models of municipal government that it is 

impossible to take one as a specimen and say : 

" This is the model city." Perhaps a short reference to 

several cities, each celebrated for some reason, will show how 

widespread are the interests of Germany. 

Berlin, it is scarcely necessary to repeat, is the biggest city 
and the capital of the Empire. It is at the same time probably 
the greatest manufacturing centre. Not an artistically 



Municipal Activities 255 

beautiful city, still it is very imposing with its high and 
solid-looking buildings, wide, straight and clean streets, 
well lighted, and with numerous open spaces. 
The Biggest It has many important art and scientific 
institutions of distinctly modern architecture. 
Berlin is known, even among the Germans themselves, as 
a splendid metropolis inhabited by peasantry. The some- 
what disdainful appellation was bestowed on 

Growth t ^ le ca pi ta * °* tne Empire in consequence 

of its marvellously rapid growth, which 
has been mainly fostered by migration from the land. 
When it is remembered that in 1816 Berlin had only 198,000 
inhabitants, in 1855 only 461,000, at the foundation of the 
Empire in 1870 only 774,500, and that at the last census, 
in 1905, it possessed 2,040,000, it will be acknowledged that 
there is some justification. These figures show that the 
population of the city has increased in considerably less than 
a century by ten times its number. In the same period the 
population of the Empire increased only from 24,833,000 to 
60,000,000— less than three times. 

The value of land in Berlin increased from £4 18s. the square 
meter (a little over a yard) in 1868 to £14 8s. the square meter 
in 1906. 

The Berliner enjoys every facility for proceeding from one 
place to another : his street car service is cheap and excellent, 
horse and motor cabs are abundant and not 
Transport ex P ens i ye '> the underground electric rail- 
way is quick, clean and cheap ; motor- 
omnibuses have made their appearance and are rapidly driving 
the old uncomfortable horse-omnibuses out of business. 
Hamburg, Bremen and Liibeck, the three city republics 
which form an important part of the Empire, 
Free Cities. m consequence of their connection with the 
sea and the passage of an immense portion 
of Germany's foreign trade through their hands, are all 
most interesting cities. Not only are they great commercial 



256 Germany of the Germans 

centres, but they form most picturesque memorials of 
historical times, with their mediaeval architecture and relics 
of the old Hanseatic League. All these cities have suffered 
considerably from an artistic point of view owing to their 
immense prosperity. Many modern buildings are now taking 
the place of the quaint houses of the old towns. 

Frankfort-on-Main is one of the oldest of German cities, 

dating from the time of the Romans, when it was the central 

point of trading between north and south, 

Fr °Da R r man east and west Not much of the ancient cit y 
can be traced to-day, but excavations have 

shown that a Roman city existed on the site of what is now 

called the old town, which is mediaeval. Many of the houses 

of this period still stand in excellent condition, including the 

old Town Hall, which, however, has undergone frequent 

restoration. Frankfort was a republic until 1866, when it 

became part of Prussia. 

Konigsberg, on the Baltic, is noted as being the birthplace 

of the Kingdom of Prussia, for it was here in 1701 that the 

Prince Elector Friedrich III was crowned 

^prussS of Kin s of Prussia - The cit y was built b y the 

Knights of Malta. 
Posen is of interest on account of the obstinate resistance 
of its inhabitants to the attempts made by Prussia to Ger- 
manise them. Formerly a city of the Kingdom of Poland, 
it came into Prussian possession finally in 1815, but the spirit 
of the people is still Polish. 

Miinden, a little town on the Fulda and Werra, has one 
notable fact to remember, although it did not make the town 

famous in Germany. It was from here the 
S En land 01 " Hanoverian soldiers set sail to take part in 

many of England's wars, including the war 
in America. Another important event in the town's history 
was the destruction by its jealous sailor-men of the primitive 
steamer constructed by Papin early in the eighteenth century, 
said by Germans to have been the first steamboat 




w 

I— I 

> 

< 

w 

w 
o 



Municipal Activities 257 

Dresden, the " German Florence," prides itself on being the 

home of all the arts, and it has a right to the title, for its 

collections of all kinds are one of the wonders 

Florence '' °* Europe. The town, which is beautifully 

situated, is much frequented by foreigners. 

There are, in fact, permanent English, American, Russian and 

Polish colonies of considerable importance. 

Sonne berg has a peculiar renown. It is the " city of dolls." 
There are no factories, for the dolls, which range from the 
fully dressed lady doll in silks to the rag or 
of Dolls wooden penny doll, are made by hand by the 
peasants and other inhabitants of the sur- 
rounding villages. Over £1,000,000 worth of dolls are sold 
here every year for export to all parts of the earth. 

The picturesque side of German town life is perhaps to be 

seen at its best in Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, in Bavaria, 

which stands to-day in practically the same 

The Pi side? sque state as [t was in after the Thirt y Years ' War - 

There are no railways or tramways or electric 
lights to disturb the harmony of the old Gothic houses, which 
are set in the framework of the defensive walls with their 
pointed and round towers built in the Middle Ages. All 
these, including the brass cannon poking their muzzles 
through the embrasures and the galleries where the 
men-at-arms did sentry duty, remain just as they were. 

Weimar, owing to the fact that both Goethe and Schiller 

lived there, has become a sort of shrine for literary men — 

a classic city. It always has been an artistic 

Shrine* 7 centre - Many persons belonging to both these 

branches of intellectual activity, as well as 

musicians, who are attracted by the fact that Franz Lizst 

stayed there for many summers, make the town their 

home. 

Heidelberg, among students, is what Mecca is to Moham- 
medans. There student life is to be seen in all its gay irre- 
sponsibility. The vari-coloured caps of the duelling corps 
17— (2391) 



258 Germany of the Germans 

and other societies are met with everywhere. All the 
inhabitants are more or less in touch with the university — the 

tradesmen who supply the students' needs, the 
The Student s beerhouse hosts who welcome the influx of the 

nightly crowds of rollicking scholars, the many 
persons employed at the lecture-rooms, the householders who 
let their rooms (for students do not sleep in college), and the 
proprietors of places of amusement, which cater mostly for 
the youth of the university. All this merry life makes the 
town an interesting one, not to speak of its historical 
associations and its beautiful situation. 

Nuremberg is known to all the world as the " city of toys." 
Besides manufacturing enormous quantities within its own 

walls, it collects thousands of tons which 

The City of h ave b een ma de in their homes by the sur- 
Xoys. 

rounding villagers and sends them all over 

the world. Nuremberg is also noted for its wonderful hand- 
made iron ornamental work and its hardware. It is one of 
the few cities of Germany that has retained its old-world 
character within the walls almost in its entirety. The town 
has grown greatly of recent years, but the new portion is 
entirely outside the fortifications, which date from the Middle 
Ages. 

Ulm, in Wurttemberg, the principal garrison of that State, 
is known more for its minster, or cathedral, than anything 

else. It is beautifully situated on the Danube, 
c th"? 01 } 55 wnere it separates Bavaria and Wurttemberg. 

To look at it from a distance, one would never 
imagine it a strong fortress. As a matter of fact, quite a 
quarter of the population consists of soldiers. The town is 
very old. At every turn one finds a picturesque house. The 
town hall, 500 years old, with its timepiece dating from 1500 ; 
the cathedral, which took centuries to complete ; " Little 
Venice," the " butchers' town," an old city bulwark, the 
Eagle bastion, the " Goose town," its narrow streets and 
alleys and its fountains : all are reminders of olden times. 




SHRINE OF ST. SEBALDUS, NUREMBERG 



Municipal Activities 259 

All these towns are increasing in size and importance and 
in some places it has been found difficult to harmonize the 
newer districts with the older, but every effort is made to 
do so. 

One interesting problem in connection with town life is 

its influence on the human physique. The military surgeons 

find that townsmen are not fitted for hard 

I "? uen L c . e { physical exercise in nearly the same degree 

as countrymen. At the same time, the towns- 
man is found to be intellectually much the sharper of the two. 
Whether the physical deterioration of the townsman will 
continue or not is an interesting question for the future. 
Great cities have not yet been long enough in existence 
for conclusions to be drawn as to their final effect upon 
mankind. In the meantime, every effort in the way of 
hygienic improvement is being made by the authorities to 
assist the citizens in their struggle against the evils of 
overcrowding and the contamination of the air by the 
factories. 

Owing to the widespread system of flats, especially in 

Berlin, it is difficult for single persons living alone in the 

cities to find comfortably furnished rooms. 

T I) , ffi l01 lt mg Many persons in the poorer quarters let what 
are called " sleeping places," where these 
lonely workers for a small rent stay the night. In many cases 
half a dozen sleep in one room, whence they have to turn 
out in the morning without breakfast. An attempt is being 
made to change this condition of things by the erection of 
bachelors' homes. Charlottenburg has led the way by erecting 
one with 340 beds, and this has been a great success, both 
morally and financially. It is to be followed by others, as 
it is said that in Berlin alone there are 150,000 persons, young 
men and women, mostly poor respectable workers, who are 
condemned to exist in " sleeping places." 

The provision of healthy lodgings for workmen has been 
taken in hand by the Prussian Government in connection 



260 Germany of the Germans 

with its State employees. The railway administration has 

spent no less than £3,450,000 on building workmen's 

dwellings ; the forestry department, £39,325 ; 

L wfrkSen° f and the State minin S department, £680,000 ; 
and a further sum of £800,000 has been 
voted for the purpose. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

LIFE AND SOME CUSTOMS 

Much has been written in reference to the alleged epidemic 
of prodigality which has affected the Germans in recent years. 
It does not require a very extended investiga- 
Alleged ^ Qn ^ Q p rove ^hat th e recklessness of expendi- 
ture is limited to the exotic quarters of one 
or two of the bigger cities. The true German, as a matter of 
fact, is just as " careful " as ever he was in his living and, as 
is proved by the enormous sums deposited in the savings 
banks, in providing for "a rainy day." If only the people 
of some of the other nations could be inoculated with the 
thrift microbe so prevalent in Germany, it would be a good 
thing for them ! 

" Society v has not yet succeeded in elbowing the " family " 

out of the way in Germany, although in some of the great 

. „ cities the "family" has a hard struggle to 

fight against its influences. 

In speaking of the " nation " in general terms, the 

rich, who form such a small proportion of the population, 

should really call for small attention. Their doings in 

" society " are practically the same as those of the same 

class in any other country and do not affect the life of the 

great majority of the people. 

The people who count are the hard-thinking and hard- 
working professional, commercial and working classes. 

In Germany the middle-class families are notorious for 

their economical ways, which permit nothing to be wasted. 

This is an absolute necessity, because the 

Middle-Class pro f eS sional and business men who form this 
Economy. r - . . , , ,, ; 

grade of society are not in receipt oi anything 

like the incomes the same class of men would receive in some 
other countries ; yet at the same time they have to maintain 

261 



262 Germany of the Germans 

an equally prosperous outward appearance while paying much 
higher prices for provisions of all kinds as well as clothing. 

In the majority of cases theirs is purely a home life, except 

perhaps for the husband's weekly evening set apart for a 

game of " skat," the national card game, or 

Purely Home ninepins at a neighbouring cafe, where, in 

the company of old fellow-students, Army 

comrades or business companions, he will drink several glasses 

of excellent beer. Perhaps on another evening he will go to 

a theatre or a concert, or in the summer with his family to 

one of the gigantic beer-gardens, where they can listen to 

admirable music by a military or other band. The younger 

folks of this class devote themselves to tennis in the summer 

and to skating and dancing in the winter. 

As to the working classes, it is sometimes a matter for wonder 

how they manage ! Perhaps it is because the workmen 

themselves are unselfish and very considerate 

The Working to t k e i r f am Qi es it j s the usual thing for 

the workman to take every penny of his 
wages home and hand all over to his wife. If then, after 
reckoning all the family's liabilities, anything is left over it is 
put aside, and only on rare occasions are the savings drawn 
upon for amusements or for the purpose of taking a holiday. 
The Saturday half-holiday is not known in Germany. A 
long walk with the family on Sunday in the woods, with a 
modest repast carried from home accompanied by a glass of 
mild beer, is all the workman demands as recreation, occasion- 
ally varied by attendance at a meeting of his trade union, 
which is always of a political nature, or by a game of cards with 
his fellow-workmen, but without any money stake. Betting 
on horse-races is virtually unknown among the working 
classes. They also take very little part in the sports and games 
which have lately spread so widely among the middle classes. 
The married women in many cases also go out to work, 
sometimes in factories, sometimes in private houses.* This 
does not, however, prevent them attending to their household 



Life and Some Customs 263 

work, although no doubt it suffers. They rise very early and 
are often on the way to the open markets to make their 
purchases as early as five o'clock in the morning. 

A glance at some of the festivities of a national character — 
that is to say, which are general all over the country — shows 

that the German has his holidays spread 
Fes^viUes equally throughout the year. 

Christmas is the greatest festivity of the 
year, and is celebrated with extraordinary fervour, more so 
perhaps than in any other country — not from a religious point 
of view, but as a family festival. For weeks beforehand 
preparations for the great day are going on, parents endea- 
vouring to find out what their children are desirous of receiving 
as gifts, children thinking what they shall present to their 
parents, husbands and wives carrying out little deceptions 
in order to find out what will give pleasure to the other, and 
finally, when the purchases have all been made in the most 
utter secrecy, everybody in the house searching for a hiding- 
place in which to keep the unexpected offering until the 
glorious moment for handing it over to the joyful recipient 
shall arrive. 

Then the Christmas tree ! What a wonderful hold the 
custom has on the people ! There is probably not a home 

in Germany that has not a Christmas tree in 

The Trel StmaS {t on Christmas Eve ! Even people living 
alone have one. In the evening all are illu- 
minated and the members of the family gather round while 
Father Christmas (in Northern Germany) distributes the 
presents. Everyone obtains a present of some kind and a 
word or two of praise or blame for his or her conduct during 
the past year from Father Christmas. In Southern Germany 
Father Christmas is less known. The presents are distributed 
amid the recitation of verses dedicated to the parents by the 
children, while a Christ-Child in a cradle is illuminated on 
Christmas morning. In every part of the country, too, it is 
the custom to sing Christmas carols, many of which originated 



264 Germany of the Germans 

in Germany, but are now sung all over the world in different 
languages. 

New Year's Eve is a night of great rejoicing. The first day 

of the year is a national holiday. Watch-night services are 

virtually unknown. In their place the people 

^ ve ear s gather in joyous companies either in private 

houses or in hotels and restaurants, and in 

riotous merriment await the coming of midnight. 

In the private gatherings all sorts of games are played, and 
every imaginable kind of oracle is consulted in reference to 
the possibilities of marriage of the youths and girls. This 
period of the year is the recognised time for the announcement 
of engagements of marriage, which appear in thousands in 
the newspapers, principally on New Year's Day, but also 
throughout the week following. 

Not only young people consult the oracle at this time, but 

also elderly people, who have dozens of " infallible " methods 

of discovering whether they are going to live 
Consulting the Qr die in the course f t h e y ear ^ an( j even f 

finding out the exact number of years they 
have to live. 

In restaurants and hotels the guests gather early in the 
evening and pass the time until midnight in joyous feasting, 
during which many practical jokes are played and battles 
royal with confetti, bonbons, etc., are fought. 

All this gives occasion for merriment of the most boisterous 
kind until near twelve o'clock, when all await the stroke of 
the hour in order to shout " Happy New Year " and kiss each 
other heartily. Then, in some parts, the last year's calendars 
are collected in the streets and made into a great bonfire. 

All through the winter months dancing proceeds at a 

terrible pace in every part of Germany. Participation in as 

many balls as possible is regarded by many 

D: n^e- German parents as the first step on the way 

to the altar for their daughters, for it is at balls 

that most of the young persons become acquainted. In 



Life and Some Customs 265 

Northern Germany the dancing continues even during Lent, 
when it is forbidden by the Church in Southern Germany, 
which is Catholic. In the city of Berlin alone there are 1 ,448 
societies, or clubs, which devote their energies to the 
encouragement of dancing and, as each of them gives a number 
of public balls every winter, the opportunities for dancing 
are ample. 

Prussia, with the exception of the towns on the banks of 
the Rhine, takes very little part in the great carnivals which 

are the custom in Continental countries before 
c . . the beginning of Lent, but in Cologne, Bonn, 

Coblence, Mayence and Frankfort the car- 
nival is a yearly event in which most of the inhabitants take 
part. The younger people dress in every kind of disguise 
and go masked through the streets battling with confetti 
and serpentines until pavements and roadways are covered 
with heaps of bright coloured paper. Everybody is in 
good-humour. Even the police take an attack by a group of 
merry-makers in good part ! 

In Bavarian cities, more especially in Munich, the carnival 
period is celebrated more or less within doors — that is to say, 

in the great dancing halls and ball-rooms, 

„ In . where masked balls are held under the 

Bavaria. , _. , Al ... 

patronage of art, literary and other societies. 

The universally recognised good fellowship of the Southern 
German is on these occasions displayed in its best form and 
fun and frolic reign supreme. 

At Eastertide some of the customs handed down from the 
time of the heathen gods are still carried out in many 
parts of the country. The fiery wheel, 
representing the sun, is still rolled down 
hill in Westphalia as a sign that the sun has come again, 
while in other districts a dummy representing King Frost is 
burned or drowned to show that his rule is at an end. 
Searching in the gardens for Easter eggs, too, is a very wide- 
spread custom : the red-coloured eggs, representing fruitfulness, 



266 Germany of the Germans 

are supposed to have been laid in the bushes by the hare, one 
of the most productive animals. 

At Whitsuntide, even in the great cities, it is the custom 
to deck the interior of the houses with young branches of 
birch, as a sign that the earth has again become fruitful. 

Harvest festivals and the anniversary of the dedication of 
the village church give occasion for rejoicings among the 
peasants, who always turn the occurrence 
Festivals * n *° an opportunity for dancing. 

At Martinmas, in some of the real country 
districts, the children go round in groups from house to house 
singing songs whose origin cannot be traced, but which have 
passed down from generation to generation until the present 
day. Apples and nuts are given them by the inhabitants, or 
else a small money gift with which to purchase them. 

There are, of course, other festivals in various parts of the 
country, but those described will serve to show that the 
German, as a rule, is not difficult to please in his amusements, 
and that he is, as a rule, content with the " simple life." 

One of the German customs which many people would like 
to see suppressed is the compulsory duel among military men, 
with its occasional sad consequence of the 
Cu t r ° US i nnocen t ma n suffering while the real offender 
goes scatheless. As matters stand, two 
officers who have a difference, whatever it may be, must 
submit it to the investigation of a so-called " Court of honour," 
composed of their brother officers, which decides whether they 
are to fight or not. Oftentimes the conditions of the duel are 
extremely severe, so much so that a fatal result is almost 
certain, and the surviving slaughterer is only nominally 
punished before receiving a clean sheet and being permitted 
to return to duty. Honour that can thus be satisfied must be 
a very peculiar sentiment, in the opinion of many ; but, 
notwithstanding the strong desire expressed in many quarters 
for the abolition of the duel, the custom survives and will do 
so until a law is passed to prevent its continuance, or the 



Life and Some Customs 267 

Emperor, as head of the Army, forbids it entirely. One of the 
worst features of the barbarous custom is that reserve officers 
and also those who have retired from the service with the 
honourable distinction of being permitted to wear the uniform 
are compelled to submit to it. 

Although this kind of duel is tolerated and, in some quarters, 
is even considered essential to the " standing " of the officer, 

yet until very recently it was impossible to 
B?? obtain the permission of the authorities for 

an ordinary exhibition boxing bout — not a 
match — on account of its " brutality." 

A thing that strikes the foreigner in Germany is the number 
of people who travel on the railways in the third and fourth 

classes, while the first-class carriages remain 
j? 1 ?, the almost entirely empty and the second-class 

only a little less so. One of the reasons is, of 
course, the prevalent thrifty spirit ; another is the objection 
to the payment of the railway ticket tax, which amounts in 
the first-class to 16 per cent, on the price of the ticket, in the 
second to 8 per cent., and in the third to 4 per cent., while 
the fourth-class is free of tax. The fares on the State 
railways are very moderate and the carriages of all classes 
are extremely good. In the fourth-class, however, there are 
very few seats, the compartments forming in some cases 
half of a carriage with seats only round the sides, so that most 
of the passengers must stand. The official returns of the 
State railways show that not more than 3 per cent, of the 
passengers ride first-class. Of these the majority may 
certainly be reckoned as foreigners. Only about 10 per cent, 
ride second-class and the remainder third and fourth. 

It would take a volume to describe even a small proportion of 
the customs, amusements and habits of this people, who com- 
bine so many elements, owing to the multitude of small States ; 
but these will be sufficient to show that, instead of being 
prodigal, as they have lately been portrayed, the Germans as a 
nation are as thrifty and simple-minded as ever they were. 



INDEX 



Accident Insurance, 134 

Stations, 120 

Accidents, Compensation for, 

134 
Actors and Actresses, 224 
Actors' Salaries, 226 
Actors, their numbers, 225 
Agricultural Element, 159 
Alexander, Richard, actor, 225 
Alsace-Lorraine, 36 
Ambrosius, Johanna, author, 

198 
Amusements, 182 
Animal Breeding, 159 
Antipathy to Prussia, 30 
Aram, Kurt, author, 196 
Architects, leading, 237 
Architectural styles, 235 
Architecture, Ancient, 238 

Modern, 235 

Army and Clergy, 60 

and Navy Burdens, 8 

and Sports, 178 

Barracks, 61 

Cadets, 63 

, Cases of Cruelty, 61 

Enrolment, 56 

Favouritism, 64 

Influences, 52 

Officers, 62 

Officers' Pay, 64 

Organisation, 56 

Pay, 61 

Reserve, 61 

Service, 54 

Shooting, 61 

Stature, 57 

Strength, 56 

Veterans, 61 

Volunteers, 59 



Art Centres, 228 
Art Collections, 234 
, private, 235 

Galleries, 234 

in Berlin, 230 

in Carlsruhe, 231 

in Dresden, 231 

in Diisseldorf, 231 

in Germany, 227 

in Munich, 229 

, Old Masters, 235 

Arts and Crafts Schools, 235 
Art's Efforts for a Style, 10 
Artists, leading, 229 
Artists' revolt, 227 

Secession, 228 

Artists, so-called, 231 
Athletic Meetings, 180 
Attention to Detail, 2 
Authors, 194 

Avenarius, Ferdinand, poet, 200 

Baden and Direct Voting, 32 
Banking Companies, 158 
Bankruptcy cases, 113 
Banks and Agriculture, 158 

and Commerce, 158 

Baths, public, 253 
Bavaria's Constitution, 31 
Berg, Leo, critic, 224 
Berlin the Metropolis, 254 

Labour Exchange, 143 

Berlin's Poor, 124 
Bethmann-Hollweg, Herr Von, 

50 
Beyerlein, Franz Adam, author, 

196 
Bierbaum, Otto Julius, author, 

197 
Bleibtreu, Carl, author, 197 



269 



270 



Index 



Blind Schools, 78 
Boating in Germany, 178 
Bocklin, Arnold, artist, 229 
Bohlau, Helene, author, 198 
Bolsche, Wilhelm, author, 197 
Book Production, 200 
Books sold, 200 
Boxing called Brutal, 267 
Boy-Ed, Ida, author, 198 
Brahm, Otto, theatre manager, 

224 
Britons and Games, 177 
Bruch, Max, composer, 213 
Budgets of States and Empire, 9 
Bulcke, Karl, author, 198 
Biilow, Freiin Von, author, 198 
Bungert, August, composer, 213 
Busch, Wilhelm, author, 196 

Capital for Enterprises, 158 
Carnival in Bavaria, 265 

time, 265 

Cases in Camera, 108 
Catholic Activity, 100 

Church, 100 

Catholics and Classics, 91 
Catholics, liberal, 101 
Cattle in Germany, 159 
Centre Party, 42, 43 

Party's Programme, 45 

Chamber Music, 211 
Chancellor's Responsibility, 21 
Chemical Industry, 155 
Children's Walking Tours, 76 
Choice of Husband, 186 
Christianity's Future, 245 
Christmas Festivities, 263 
Churches, the, 94 

Church Organisation, 95 

Reform, 99 

Churches, State, 95 
Church Taxes, 95 
Cities, Picturesque, 236 
City Debts, 249 

Development, 248 

Enterprises, 250 

Government, 249 

Land Purchase, 254 

Life, its influence, 259 



City Plans, 254 

Rates and Taxes, 251 

Trading, 250 

Civil Procedure, 112 
Class Spirit, 89 
Classical Schools, 82 
Cleanliness in the Army, 55 
Clergy and Schools, 102 
Clerical Career, 96 

Clerical Desires in Politics, 45 

Coal Mining, 153 

Collectivism and Individualism, 

243 
College Life, 93 
Cologne Unemployed, 140 
Comic Papers, 207 
Commercial Germans, 157 
Compulsory Apprenticeship, 148 

Army Service, 54 

Schooling, 81 

Sick Insurance, 130 

Trade Classes, 149 

Concert Music, 211 
Conductors, 214 
Conquered Provinces, 36 
Conrad, Michael Georg, author, 

195 
Conservative Party, 43 

Programme, 44 

Conservatives, Free, 43 
Constituencies, Antiquated, 39 
Constitution, Articles, 22 
Constitutional Changes, 29 
Constitution of Empire, 20 
Consumption of Alcohol, 169 
Continuation Schools, 81 
Co-operative Movement, 161 
Cricket in Germany, 180 
Criminal Code, 104 

Courts, 105 

Offences, 105 

Cripples' Homes, 78 
Crown and Crime, 106 
Crown Prince, 18 

Prince and Sport, 174 

as Carpenter, 19 

Culture, Modern, 240 
Cuxhaven, 72 

Cycling in Germany, 180 



Index 



271 



Dahn, Felix, author, 197 
Dairy Companies' effect on 

Drink, 170 
Dancing in Germany, 264 
Danish Question, 37 
Deaconesses in Germany, 192 
Declaration of War, 25 
Dehmel, Richard, poet, 200 
Discipline at Play, 176 
Discipline's effect on the Nation, 

55 
Dispensaries and Hospitals, 120 
Dissenters, 94 
Doctorates, 92 
Domicile in Germany, 121 
Duels in the Army, 266 
Duelling Corps, 88 
Diisseldorf Unemployed, 141 
Drama in Germany, 217 
Dramatic critics, 217 

Revival, 218 

Taste, 218 

Dresden, 257 

Dress of Women, 185 
Drink in the Country, 169 
Drunkards, care of, 168 
Drunkards' Homes, 167 
Drunkards in Confinement, 167 
Drunkenness, 167 

Eastern Provinces and Indus- 
try, 156 
Eastertide, 265 
Ebers, Georg, author, 196 
Edifices, Modern, 236 
Educational Efficiency, 6 

Expenditure, 74 

Frankness, 80 

Education, Free, 73 

of Women, 185 

, Superior, 82 

Elberfeld Poor System, 116 
Electoral Laws, 31, 32, 33 
Electrical Industry, 154 
Elementary School Education, 

77 
Emperor and Art, 17, 228 

and Berlin Opera, 12 

and Divine Right, 14 



Emperor and Navy, 65 

and Sport, 174 

and Yachting, 179 

as a War Lord, 11 

as an Artisan, 14 

on His Travels, 12 

signs all Laws, 25 

Emperor's Devotion to Duty, 11 

Devotion to Exercise, 13 

Dogmatism, 15 

Energy, 11 

Good Faith, 15 

Love of Power, 11 

Love for Soldiering, 16 

Popularity, 18 

Private Life, 13 

Privy Purse, 12 

Special Train, 12 

Sports, 13 

Strong Personality, 14 

Versatility, 17 

Virtues and Demerits, 14 

Wholeheartedness, 13 

Yacht " Meteor," 179 

Empire's Enterprises, 9 

Rights over Railways, 28 

Employers' Associations, 152 
Empress as a Woman, 184 
Ernst, Otto, author, 197 
Eucken, Rudolf, philosopher, 

242 
Evening Schools, 81 
Exercise, 174 
, Compulsory, 176 

Factory Workers, 150 
Farmers and Agriculture, 159 

Small, 159 

Farm Labourers, 161 

Labourers' Earnings, 161 

Federal Council, 24 

Fencing in Germany, 181 
Festivities, ^National, 263 
Feudal Nobles' Sway, 49 

Power, 34 

Fire Insurance, Compulsory, 135 
First Offenders, 108 
Fleet Manoeuvres, 72 
Flight from the Church, 97 



272 



Index 



Folksongs in Germany, 208 
Fontane, Theodor, author, 196 
Football in Germany, 180 
Forest and State, 162 
Foresters, their Numbers, 164 

their Training, 164 

the Lower Ranks of, 165 

Forest Land, 162 

Produce, 164 

Forestry, 162 

Forests and Climate, 166 

, a Treasure of the Nation, 

166 
-, extent of, 163 



Forest trees, 162 

For the People, not by the 

People, 48 
Fractions of Parties, 40 
Frankfort-on-Main, 256 
Frederick the Great and Banks, 

158 
Free Cities, 255 

Conservative Programme, 



44 



Theatre, 218 
Trade Opinion, 160 



Frenssen, Gustav, author, 197 
Freytag, Gustav, author, 197 
Fulda, Ludwig, playwright, 223 

Gambling in Germany, 181 
Games shown by Britons, 177 
Geestemiinde, 72 
German Amusements, 182 

Comfort and Luxury, 8 

Empire's Birth, 23 

Forestry, 162 

Housewife, 184 

Love of Nature, 75 

Germans and Customers' Wishes, 

157 
Germans' Determination, 7 

Forethought, 7 

Germans Great Walkers, 182 
Germany a Power to Reckon 

with, 7 
Germany's Government, 38 
Goats in Germany, 159 
Golf in Germany, 181 



Gotz, Hermann, 211 
Government Income from Enter- 
prises, 9 
Grabbe, Dietrich, author, 198 
Greif, Martin, poet, 199 
Gymnastics for Children, 176 
Gymnastic Societies, 175 

Tournaments, 175 

Haeckel, Ernst, philosopher, 
241 

Halbe, Max, playwright, 223 

Harden, Maximilian, journalist, 
205 

Harvest Festivals, 266 

Hauptmann, Gerhard, 195, 222 

Heidelberg, 257 

Heligoland, 72 

Heyking, Elizabeth Von, author, 
198 

Heyse, Paul, author, 198 

Higher Officials Obliging, 3 

Historical Drama, 220 

Hoffmann, Hans, author, 196 

Holz, Arno, author, 195 

Home Life, 262 

Horse-racing in Germany, 181 

Horses in Germany, 159 

Hospitals, 253 

House Accommodation and 
Drink, 173 

Housewives in Germany, 184 

Humperdinck, Engelbert, com- 
poser, 213 

Illustrated Papers, 206 
Imperial Chancellor, 21, 50 

Finances, 28 

Idea, 31 

Legislation, 23 

Parliament, 22 

Imports and Exports, 148 
Income from State Forests, 

162 
Incomes, 153 
Industrial Branches, 156 

Growth, 148 

Movement, 147 

Success, causes of, 148 



Index 



273 



Industrial System, 147 
Industries, Principal, 153 
Infirmity Insurance, 126 
Influence of Prussia, 30 
Insane Asylums, 253 
Instrumentalists, 214 
Insults and their Punishment, 29 
Insurance, Conditions of, 130 

Cost of Management, 132 

Exceptions, 128 

Extension of, 127 

its Immensity, 127 

of Drunkards, 169 

Table, 129 

the amounts paid, 127 

State, 125 

v. Pauperism, 125 

Insured, Numbers of, 127 
Interference in Private Affairs, 2 
Intoxication, 167 
Introduction, 1 

Invalids, Chronic, 128 
Inventiveness, 157 
Irresponsibility of Officials, 52 

Jena Glass Works, 156 
Jewish Church, 102 
Journalistic Difficulties, 206 
Journalists, 205 
Judges, 106 

Honorary, 114 

Judges' Appointments, 114 

Salaries, 114 

Kaiser Appoints Ministers, 21 

Represents Empire, 21 

Kaiser's Powers, 21 

Kiel, 72 

Yachting, 178 

Kitchens, Popular, 120 

Kleist, Heinrich Von, author, 

198 
Koester, Admiral Von, 66 
Konigsberg, 256 

Labourers and Insurance, 137 
Labour Exchanges, 142 

Exchange scenes, 144 



Land Cultivation, 159 
Landowners' Despotism, 39 
Law, Civil, 110 

Codes, 104 

making Institutions, 24 

the, 104 

Lectures at Universities, 90 
Legal anomalies, 113 

Appeals, 112 

Costs, 111 

Equality, 107 

Fees, 107 

Punishments, 108 

Leipzig Concerts, 211 

Unemployed, 140 

Liberal Ideas of Minor States, 31 
Liberals, 43 

Libraries, Public, 200 
Liliencron, Detlev Von, author, 

196 
Literature, 193 

at a Standstill, 10 

, Unworthy, 193 

Litigation, Delays in, 111 
Lodgings for Workmen, 259 
Lords in Prussia, 34 
Lortzing, Albert, 210 
Lyrical Art, 199 

Machinery Construction, 154 
Making of Treaties, 25 
Marriage, 186 

Married Women's Work, 262 
Martinmas, 266 
Matriculation Day, 88 
Mayence Unemployed, 141 
Mayors of Cities, 249 
Members of Parliament, 40 
Mendelssohn, Arnold, composer, 

213 
Merchant Navy, 69 
Messel, Alfred, architect, 237 
Middle-class Economy, 261 

in Trade, 7 

Military Compulsion, 28 

Cult, 3 

Liability, 54 

Mines, State, 154 
Ministerial Positions, 22 



274 



Index 



Ministers and Secretaries of 
State, 51 

not Members of Parlia- 
ment, 40 

Modern Schools, 82 
Mortgage Banks, 158 
Mortgages on Land, 158 
Motorboats in Germany, 179 
Motoring in Germany, 181 
Munden, 256 
Municipal Activities, 248 

Interests, 47 

Municipalities and Drunkards, 

168 

and Unemployed, 141 

Music, 208 

in Berlin, 211 

in Transition Stage, 10 

Musical Composers, 209 

Conductors, 214 

Education, 209 

Festivals, 212 

Germany, 208 

Musicians, Professional, 216 

National Character, 5 

Nationalities, 36 

National Liberals' Programme, 45 

Questions, 36 

Naval Officers, 70 

Personnel, 69 

Ports, 71 

Recruiting, 69 

Training, 70 

Vessels, 68 

Volunteers, 70 

Navy, the, 65 

Artificers, 69 

Development, 67 

League, 65 

Programme, 67 

Yards, 71 

" Nevers," the, 121 
News Agency, 205 
Newspaper Circulation, 204 

Kiosks, 204 

Newspapers and the Post, 207 

in Germany, 202 

, Leading, 203 



Newspapers, Old, 202 

, Socialist, 202 

New Year's Celebration, 264 
Nietzsche, Friedrich, philoso- 
pher, 240 
Nietzsche's Works, 241 
Night Shelters, 119 
North German Union, 23 
Novels, 193 
Nuns in Germany, 192 
Nuremberg, 258 
Nursing Profession, 191 

Offensive Tone of Officials, 52 
Officialdom, 47 

Satisfies People, 53 

Official Fidelity, 52 
Officials' Divine Right, 3 

Honesty, 38 

Influence in Politics, 35 

Loyalty, 52 

Officials, Number of, 47 

under Control, 52 

Uninfluenced by Parlia- 
ment, 49 

Old- Age Insurance, 126 
Open-air Life, 183 
Opera in Dresden, 211 
Oratorical Talent Lacking, 41 
Orphans and Foundlings, 119 
Outdoor Athletics, 180 
Out-of-Work Insurance, 136 

Relief, 141 

Papers, Comic, 207 
Paquet, Alfons, poet, 200 
Parents and Teachers, 78 
Parliament, 38 

a Passive Organ, 42 

Parliamentary Government un- 
known, 41 

Parliament of Empire, 27 
Party Programmes, 44 
Pastors' Nomination, 96 
Patents applied for, 157 
Paternal Government, 4 
Patriotism Encouraged, 4 
Pavment of Members, 40 



Index 



275 



People do not Govern, 41 
People's Stage, Free, 219 
Pessimism, 247 
Philharmonic Society, 211 
Philosophers, the Older, 247 
Philosophy and Church, 240 

and Religion, 243 

in Germany, 240 

Philosophy's Tasks, 245 
Physique of Germans, 175 
Pigs in Germany, 159 
Pig-iron production, 154 
Piloty, artist, 229 

Plays, classical, 221 

Playwrights, 217 

Poets, 199 

Police Word is Law, 3 

Polish Question, 37 

Political Development Slow, 4 

Groups, 46 

Oratory, 41 

Unripeness, 38 

Politics not understood, 5 
Poor, Cost of, 122 

Deserving, 115 

Expenditure on, 123 

in Cities, 121 

in Germany, 115 

Law, 115 

and Drunkards, 169 

Principles, 124 

Wandering, 118 

Poors' Doctors, 120 

Guardians, 116 

Population of Cities, 248 
Ports, 248 

Posen, 256 

Poultry in Germany, 159 
Powers of Federal Council, 24 
Presidency of German Union, 25 
Press and Statesmen, 204 

Bureau, 204 

Development, 203 

in Germany, 202 

Periodical, 206 

Restrictions, 203 

Priests' Popularity, 100 

Stipends, 101 

Princely Houses dying out, 31 



Prisoners and Employment, 109 
Prison Confinement, 110 
Prisoner's Position, 106 
Problem Novels, 194 
Prodigality, 261 
Professional Paupers, 121 
Professors, 85 
Profits from Forests, 163 
Prosperity Ousts Politics, 5 
Protection and Prices, 160 
Protestant Pastor's Stipends, 96 
Prussian Administration, 34 
Prussia's Mediaeval Suffrage, 32, 
33 

Preponderance, 30 

Role, 31 

Public-houses, their numbers, 

169 
Public Servants placed on High 

Plane, 53 
Punishment in Schools, 76 

Raabe, Wilhelm, author, 195 
Radicals, 43 
Radical Programme, 46 
Railway riding, 267 
Real Rulers of Germany, 20 
Reasons of Prosperity, 1 
Recruiting Office, 57 
Recruits, 57 
Recruits' Origin, 57 
Redistribution of Seats, 39 
Reger, Max, composer, 213 
Reichstag Dissolved Peremp- 
torily, 41 
Reigning Princes, 19 
Relief Systems for Unemployed, 

142 
Religious Camps, 94 

Indifference, 98 

Life, 246 

Pessimism, 8 

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, 257 
Rowing in Germany, 178 

Sailing in Germany, 179 
Satisfaction with Official System, 

53 
Savings Banks, 153 



276 



Index 



Saxony's Progress, 32 
Scharwenka, Philip, composer, 

213 
Schiemann, Professor, 205 
Schlaf, Johannes, author, 195 
Schoneberg and Unemployed, 

141 
School Attendance, 76 

Buildings, 79 

Dentists and Doctors, 78 

Discipline, 75 

Fees, 83 

Hours, 83 

Instruction, 77 

Punishments, 76 

Syllabus, 75 

Teachers, 79 

Schools and Temperance, 171 

Commercial, 81 

Denominational, 73 

in Forests, 79 

in Germany, 73 

Middle, 82 

Schiicking, Levin, poet, 199 
Schiiler, Gustav, poet, 199 
Scientific Education, 90 

Learning, 8 

Sculptors, Leading, 232 
Sculpture in Berlin, 232 

in Dresden, 232 

in Germany, 232 

in Munich, 233 

Seidel, Heinrich, author, 196 
Sentiment and Marriage, 186 
Service in Army, 54 
Shakespeare in Germany, 218 
Sheep in Germany, 159 
Shooting in Germany, 182 
Shop Hours Regulation, 253 
Sick Benefits, 132 

Funds, 132 

Insurances, number of, 131 

Singers in Germany, 214 
Singing in Germany, 208 
Skating in Germany, 181 
Social Problems, 8 
Socialists and Church, 97 

Crushed by Suffrage Laws, 

33 



Socialists Excluded from Offices, 

49 
Socialists' Forward March, 42 

Power, 42 

Programme, 46 

Society v. Family, 261 
Soldier Respected, 55 
Soldiers as Officials, 52 
Soldiers' Education, 58 
Sonneberg, 257 

Sorma, Agnes, actress, 225 
Specialisation and Caste, 6 
Spielhagen, Friedrich, drama- 
tist, 224 
Sport and National Defence, 1 74 

for Women, 186 

in Germany, 174 

in the Army, 178 

State and Unemployed, 137 

Control, 47 

Divisions, 30 

Enterprises, 47 

Guardianship, 8 

Insurance, 125 

Production, Dangers of, 48 

States and Industries, 9 

: Their Position, 30 

Strassburg and Unemployed, 

139 
Strauss, Richard, composer, 212 
Student Life, 87 
Students, 86 

Students' Restrictions, 89 
Study, Course of, 88 

Duration of, 91 

Sudermann, Hermann, author, 

195 
Suffrage in Various States, 31, 
32, 33 

Law of Empire, 39 

Summer Colonies, 183 
Supplies in Reichstag, 41 
Swimming in Germany, 181 

Tact Lacking, 7 
Tariff Laws, 160 
Taxable property, 148 
Taxation Murmurs, 9 
Teachers' Salaries, 79 



Index 



277 



Technical High Schools, 87 
Temperance, 167 

and Schools, 171 

and the Church, 171 

Societies, 172 

Templars, 172 

Territory of German Empire, 23 
Theatre, a Model, 221 

a State, 220 

Theatres, Municipal, 220 
Theatrical Centre, Berlin a, 219 
Theological Philosophers, 244 
Thrift among Workers, 153 

in Germany, 267 

Tidiness in Germany, 55 
Trades Unions, 151 
and Drunkenness, 



170 



Unionists' Temperance, 



170 

Tram Lines, 254 
Treaties, 25 
Tulle Industry, 155 

Ubiquity of the Police, 2 
Ulm, 258 

Unearned Increment, 254 
Unemployed Insurance, 136 

in Cologne, 140 

in Leipzig, 140 

in Mayence, 141 

in Schoneberg, 141 

in Strassburg, 139 

Unemployment among Veterans, 

144 
Difficulties, 138 

in Baden, 145 

in Bavaria, 144 

in Prussia, 145 

in Trades, 146 

Uniform's Popularity, 54 
Universal Manhood Suffrage, 39 
Universities, 86 

University Education, 85 

Faculties, 86 

Upper House in Prussia, 34 

Veterans and Unemployment, 
144 



Veterans of Army, 61 
Virility of the Germans, 2 
Vocalists, 214 

their Origin, 215 

Volunteers in Army, 58 

one-year, 59 

Voss, Richard, dramatist, 224 
Votes of Federal Councillors, 24 



Wages and Hours, 149 
Wagner, Richard, 210 
— — Siegfried, composer, 213 
Walking in Germany, 182 
Wallot, Paul, architect, 237 
Wealth, distribution of, 248 
Wedekind, Frank, dramatist, 

224 
Weimar, 257 
Whitsuntide, 266 
Wildenbruch, Ernst Von, author, 

196 
Wildenbruch, playwright, 223 
Wilhelmshafen, 71 
William II as Emperor, 1 1 

as European Arbiter, 11 

Witnesses' Payment, 112 
Wolff, Julius, poet, 199 
Woman and Agriculture, 190 

and Business, 187 

and the Law, 188 

■ and Trade, 190 

, Higher Education, 191 

Obliged to Work, 190 

Woman's Accomplishments, 186 

Inferiority, 186 

Life, 184 

Organisations, 188 

Position, 184 

Women and Liberal Professions, 
190 

Authors, 198 

Doctors, 190 

Guardians, 117 

in Factories, 190 

Lawyers, 190 

, Society for Instruction 

of, 191 
Students, 87 



278 



Index 



Women's Dignity, 187 

Education, 185 

Prisons, 110 

Property, 187 

Qualities, 184 

Restrictions, 187 

Societies, 189 

Wages, 191 

Work Colonies, 118 

" Work " Houses, 121 

Workers and Higher Education, 

92 
Workers and the Church, 97 

and Unemployment, 138 



Workers and Vacations, 152 

seem to be another race, 6 

Workers' Books, 152 

Discipline, 149 

Life, 153 

Welfare, 152 

Working Classes, 262 

Class's Strivings, 5 

Workmen and Gymnastics, 175 

Foreign, 150 

Workmen's Insurance, 125 

Yachting in Germany, 178 
Youth of Germany, 73 



THE END 



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